US Army has started implementing Microsoft’s newest gaming system, the XBox 360, to help train soldiers with simulated combat and war games. The United States military has always been aware of the synergy between gaming and its new weapons systems. On a side note I read that when the Department of Defense was designing the new Air Force jet F22 Raptor, it brought in the expertise of young gamers to give suggestions on the layout and configuration of the interface to make it more intuitive for the Airmen of the future. Recently, the US Army conducted its first live-fire exercise, Experiment 1.1, using Future Combat Systems (FCS) technologies and equipment. The military exercise was apart of the most comprehensive Army modernization effort and was held at Oro Grande Range at Fort Bliss, Texas. This included a robot designed to take out snipers and code named the RedOwl. The inventory of military robots and unmanned vehicles doesn’t stop there though. The XBox controller is used to control and maneuver robots. The controllers are not completely wireless however. It looks like the controller goes to a pack on the soldier which communicates wirelessly to the robot. Not only does having a wired controller save on batteries, it simplifies the system, by only having one wireless system versus two, which cuts down on points of failure.

A platoon of 36 Soldiers tested such FCS technology as Urban and Tactical Unattended Ground Sensors and unmanned vehicles designed to clear roads and buildings, as well as detect persons and objects that may enter a building occupied by Soldiers. Robotics and unmanned vehicles help clear buildings without sending actual Soldiers inside. Experiment 1.1 had three phases. Phase 1 involved hardware and software integration and networking and systems interoperability testing in a laboratory environment at Huntington Beach, California. Phase 2 involved interoperability testing of various FCS systems in a more realistic, joint operational environment with more than a dozen Soldiers at Fort Bliss.

"With the Future Force Warrior Individual Ground System, every Soldier knows where their fellow Soldier is, even if they’re not next to them," said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Haddad, Future Combat Systems, Evaluation Brigade Combat Team. Another advantage of the FFWIGS is the ability of the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant to locate all their Soldiers on their screen and communicate with them by radio. "Soldiers won’t have to wait for someone to send them the information. Every Soldier will have the ability to listen to real-time information on the radio so he can anticipate the next move. He stays informed, that means he stays alert." Haddad said.

The Army and the rest of the military are trying to economize the best they can. Why build a new control unit, when a suitable one like the XBox 360 controller exists? Not only is the controller familiar, they won’t have to waste time and money designing a new controller when it could be spent on the rest of the project. The US Military has always been a leader in innovation and the troops get to have their hands on the latest technology. By incorporating a familiar device with the latest technology, it seems to me it makes it much easier for military service members to learn and adapt quicker. The live-fire exercise will help ensure that the new technologies tested are sufficiently mature and suitable for the current operational environment. Results of the exercise and the Soldiers’ feedback will inform subsequent program development. The FCS program has delivered more than five million lines of software code and several pre-production prototype systems on cost and on schedule.

Anti-Sniper Robot Controlled with Microsoft XBox

Talon robots have been in continuous, active military service since 2000 when they were successfully used in Bosnia for the safe movement and disposal of live grenades. They were the only American-made robots successfully used at Ground Zero in search and recovery efforts after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the only robots to last through the entire mission without requiring a major repair. Talon robots were the first robots taken into Afghanistan during action against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in February 2002. They initially accompanied the Special Forces on a classified mission, and are still there now doing EOD work. They were on the ground in Kuwait when coalition forces massed in 2003 and have been in Iraq ever since performing EOD/IED (improvised explosive device) missions. Talon robots have now completed more than 20,000 EOD missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the newest members of the Talon family of robots is specially designed to help combat engineers remotely investigate suspicious objects to determine whether or not they are IEDs. Talon’s multi-mission family of robots now includes one specifically equipped for scenarios frequently encountered by police SWAT units and MPs in all branches of the military. Talon SWAT/MP can be configured with a multi-shot TASERTM electronic control device with laser dot aiming, a loudspeaker and audio receiver, night vision and thermal cameras and a choice of weapons for a lethal or less-than-lethal response. Talon robots are powerful, durable, lightweight tracked vehicles that are widely used for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), reconnaissance, communications, hazmat, security, defense and rescue. They have all-weather, day/night and amphibious capabilities and can navigate virtually any terrain.

US Army Talon Robot Highlights

Man-portable — At less than 100 lb (45 kg), Talon can be easily transported and is instantly ready for operation. Rugged — Talon robots can take a punch and stay in the fight. One was blown off the roof of a Humvee in Iraq while the Humvee was crossing a bridge over a river. Talon flew off the bridge and plunged into the river below. Soldiers later used its operator control unit to drive the robot back out of the river and up onto the bank so they could retrieve it. Fast — Talon is the fastest robot on the market today with seven speed settings. High payload capacity — Long-term system versatility optimizes investment. Talon has the highest payload capacity and payload-to-weight ratio, allowing for the incorporation of a broad array of sensor packages. Mobile — Climbs stairs, negotiates rock piles, overcomes concertina wire, plows through snow and surf. Intuitive — Easiest robot to operate; joystick controls. Withstand repeated decontamination — Demonstrated at Ground Zero after 2001 World Trade Center attack in New York City. Electronics withstood 45 straight days of being decontaminated twice a day without failing. Long battery life — Talon robots have the longest battery life of all man-portable robots.

The US Army’s RedOwl is a $150,000 robot intended to hunt enemy snipers. The RedOwl boasts impressive precision detection, sharpshooter pathfinding, and the ability to "read a nametag from across a football field." This powerful robot solider operates via a keyboard but the Army has enlisted the assistance of Microsoft XBox. This powerful robot is run via a keyboard, but how does one steer a mega-expensive piece of military equipment? With a modified Xbox controller, of course. Comfort and ease should be a primary concern when steering robots worth many times our annual salaries. The RedOwl robot also employs a suite of advanced optics including a thermal camera, 300X zoom daylight/infrared camera, infrared laser illuminators, a rangefinder, high intensity white driving light, and voice communication microphones and speakers, all in a package that weighs less than 5 pounds. The RedOwl is a robotic head that looks more like a PowerPoint projector than a sharpshooter’s worst enemy. But don’t let its Circuit City appearance fool you: Controlled by a laptop-wielding soldier, the RedOwl’s superior senses can read a nametag from across a football field and identify the make and model of a rifle fired a mile away simply by analyzing the sound of the distant blast. And soon it could be putting its powers to use in Iraq. RedOwl is a program led by Boston University with iRobot, Insight Technology and Bio Mimetic Systems, a Boston U spinout company. The RedOwl equipped PackBot has been field-tested for the Army at a rifle and trapshooting range. RedOwl’s developer, Glenn Thoren, now a director at Insight Technology in Londonderry, New Hampshire, says several prototypes have finished an intensive 10-week field test at Fort Benning in Georgia. Given the defense department’s budget approval early this year, he hopes the $150,000 sniper-finders will be in Iraq by this spring. The new RedOwl sniper detection and surveillance robot is a remote, deployable sensor suite designed to provide early warning information, gunshot detection, intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities to military and government agencies. The robot’s mechanical ears were originally designed to improve hearing aides. But Thoren, then with Boston University’s Photonics Center, which heads the RedOwl project, thought up a new application after learning of a spike in sniper activity surrounding Iraqi hotspots like Abu Ghraib prison. He combined the original listening system (which processes sound received by four microphones to determine the direction and elevation of a noise) with a suite of sensors, spotlights and a laser range-finder. When the RedOwl hears gunfire, it swivels its head toward the source of the noise. A thermal imager can pick out the sniper while an infrared spotlight illuminates him for night-vision-equipped troops. Steered by a modified Xbox games controller, the RedOwl can also enter dangerous buildings in advance of soldiers. "We’re hoping to put the robot in situations where it would be less safe for a soldier," Thoren says.

How RedOwl Operates

EARSWhen a shot is fired, the incoming sound waves pass over four microphones, and a processor parses the data to pinpoint the source of the sound, all in a few milliseconds. The system can recognize weapons by their report, and thus ignore friendly fire. EYESA central camera allows the remote operator to see where the RedOwl is going, and a powerful zoom cam enables the operator to study potential snipers without getting too close. RedOwl’s lasers can illuminate a target up to a mile away. Because the laser is infrared, the sniper won’t be aware he’s in the spotlight, but soldiers with night-vision goggles will see him perfectly. MATH SKILLSA laser rangefinder bounces a beam off the target, and RedOwl calculates the intervening distance. Factoring in its own GPS position and using a magnetic compass to determine the direction in which it’s looking, RedOwl can figure out the location of a target 3,000 feet away, allowing troops to call in a precision air strike.

Killer Army Robots with Machine Guns

I was able to see some of these Killer Robots in action during some War Games in Thailand and Japan. The Army deployed the Talon robots that were manufactured by Foster, Miller of Waltham, Massachusetts (Foster – Miller was founded in 1956 by three MIT graduates who decided that there was a need for a company that could excel in analysis and design and made those cute little household vacuuming robots). The Pacbot, another Army robot, has already seen action in Iraq. The Pacbot weighs about 40 pounds, and is propelled by heavy-duty tracks. It also has chemical sensors that detect nuclear, biological, and chemical contaminants. Pacbot’s primary mission is to sniff out and dispose of bombs in Iraq. It’s currently being tested by the 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other Pacbots have already been outfitted with a pump action shotgun capable of firing shotgun rounds and killing enemy combatants. The U.S. Army will likely deploy more robots to Iraq, each equipped with various weapons that range from M-249 machine guns, rockets, grenade launchers and M-16 rifles. The 3–foot-tall robot, known by the acronym SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Remote Direct-Action System), is remote-controlled and based on the Talon bomb-disposal robot currently in use in Iraq and elsewhere. The SWORDS robot can be outfitted with night vision, and can pinpoint the source of enemy fire, swing around instantly and shoot back.

Military Talon Military Robot Literature

• Talon Army Robot Brochure
• Talon SWORDS Weapons Data Sheet
• Talon Army Robot
• Talon Army Robot Hazmat
• Talon Army Robot Fido
• Talon Army Robot Trailer and Hitch Data Sheet
• Talon Army Robot SWAT MP Data Sheet

Military Robot Warrior Platoon Pictures

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