Cyber-soldiers may save lives
Since the Iraq war began in March 2003, the Pentagon has counted 2,376 fatalities among U.S. troops, with nearly one-third, or 767 deaths, caused by booby traps known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
Now, recent advances in robotics offer a way to use machines to assume some of the deadliest jobs on the battlefield.
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The military's demand for such technology has been practically insatiable. Everett said that in 2004, U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq were operating a total of 163 robots known as UGVs, or unmanned ground vehicles. By the end of this year, that number is expected to reach 4,000, according to Pentagon estimates.
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Recent advances in autonomous technology have been so rapid that Everett predicts U.S. soldiers eventually will work with robots in the same way a hunter works with a bird dog.
“Troops of the future are going to be equipped with a lot of electronics imbedded in their uniforms and their weapons,” he said. Ideally, such technology will allow a robot to follow a soldier's commands, such as, “Go through the door in front of you.”
To do that, however, a robot needs to be smart enough to know what a door is and how to find it, Everett says. A robot that can navigate on its own, or perhaps follow a soldier on patrol, represents a breakthrough in technology.
In recent months, Everett's team has come close to accomplishing that with an all-terrain robotic vehicle, or ATRV, about the size of a lawn mower. In one field demonstration, the ATRV entered a World War II-era bunker in Point Loma, explored the interior without human guidance and generated a rough map that depicts the interior rooms and hallways.
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