The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research and development organization for the Department of Defense, aims to "maintain the technological superiority of the U.S military." It seeks to accomplish this goal by developing robots, lasers, spacecraft, and other awesome futuristic weapons of annihilation. It also apparently has no desire to heed the warnings of the 'Matrix' or 'Terminator' movies.

According to The Register, the group's latest design, the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR), is a pilot-less, steam-powered drone. Designed for long-range missions, it refuels itself by devouring any fossil fuels or biological matter in its path. While DARPA mentions using refuse such as apple cores for fuel, it's difficult to imagine these things not being used to harvest people as an energy source.

We're always hearing about some fantastical, nigh-mythical creation that Carnegie Mellon University is in the midst of cobbling together from spare parts, crazy ideas, and pure, simple genius, so maybe we shouldn't be frothing over the new robotic truck they've partnered up with Caterpillar to create, but this one promises to be the "world's largest." Adapting software CMU used in the DARPA Urban Challenge, the team hopes to end up with fully automated, 700-ton trucks capable of moving up to 42 miles per hour which will be used for mining. The trucks would theoretically reduce costs, increase productivity, and save lives.

The Frankenstein-ed vehicles will boast GPS, laser range finders to identify large obstacles, video equipment, and a "robotic driver." The scientists somewhat predictably foresee some (as of now) rather far-fetched consumer applications in cars and trucks over the "next five to ten years," but we're taking that with a few salt grains for now. The trucks aren't ready quite yet but we hear their arrival is imminent, and and we can only imagine that somewhere in the world, Grave Digger is crying to himself.

Update: We've changed the title to reflect the accurate arrangement, which is a teaming up of CMU and Caterpillar, not DARPA. Thanks to the commenter who pointed that out.

You may remember this little dumbell-looking Recon Scout drone we saw last year, when it had just been implemented in the military. If you'll recall, the robot selflessly allows itself to be thrown into wild and unpredictable situations deemed "too risky" for people, then transmits grainy video back to an Operator Control Unit.

Well, it turns out that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was interested in this rugged bastion of self-sacrifice, too. The CDCR can apparently envision all kinds of nightmare scenarios in which prisoners have weapons and no human wants any part of it -- which is why they've agreed to a rental contract where they get ten devices and developer ReconRobotics gets feedback from the Department in exchange.

Seriously though, aren't there any jubilant tasks we could set this guy to? He's getting to be such a killjoy.

If we had our way, all our military tax dollars would go to DARPA. Whether it be nano planes, robot arms, or high-resolution sniper scopes, it always has something interesting cooking, and today's defense-minded gadget is no different. It's called a DBAC device, for Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation; basically a portable ultrasound wrap that can identify wounds ("bleeders") and reduce their severity. It uses Doppler waves to find an internal leak, then turns up the frequency and amplitude on that location to stem it, all in a completely automated fashion able to be managed by any Joe in a hot zone. Okay, so perhaps it's not as cool as a remote-controlled zombie shark, but this cuff has the potential to save many lives and limbs on the battlefield -- assuming it works. DARPA hopes to have a functional prototype ready in 18 months. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via CNET News]

In the U.S. we have DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which hosts regular challenges for things like cars that can race around cities sans drivers. The closest U.K. equivalent is the Ministry of Defense Grand Challenge, which tasks teams of engineers to come up with solutions to provide enhanced intelligence to troops on the ground. Competitors for that challenge are set to invade a sleepy British village next month with autonomous flying robots and other cool bits of tech.

Competitors will be tasked with having their automated sentries automatically survey the terrain to "detect, identify, monitor and report the position of a wide range of threats" according to the challenge Web site. Teams will be scored based on the number of threats identified, but will have points detracted if they need to resort to manual control of their devices. Six teams have signed up to compete. Some teams are relying exclusively on aerial bots, while others will use a combination of ground-based rovers and flying sentries to find threats. It sounds like it should be a fun show, and we can't wait for the consumer toy versions to be released. [Source: News.com]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will award contracts to design and build an unmanned spy plane they've dreamed up that will stay aloft for for an amazing five years. The pseudo satellite will circle the globe for years at between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, gathering photos, communications, and generally watching everything you do.

The craft will have to answer a number of design challenges, not the least of which is how to keep this thing powered for such a long period of time. The sub-orbital satellite will also have to carry a 1000-pound payload in extremely high winds (and become airborne in the first place).

DARPA would like to have the craft built ASAP, but you know how these things work, the government will be lucky to have non-functional scale model by the year 2020.

From Gizmo Watch

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Chances are, if you're in the U.S. Air Force, you're not going to be reading this today. That's because Switched is a blog (short for Web log) and the Air Force has decided that most blogs are bad -- or at least not legitimate sources of news.

You may think that's an oversimplification of the matter, but tell that to the Air Force, which, according to Wired, has just started automatically blocking access to almost all sites with the word blog in the Web address or on the Web site itself. Access is blocked for all active personnel who get online at work or on duty.

The new rule does allow for access to "an established, reputable media outlet," like the New York Times, and, presumably, even the blogs on the New York Times site.

The Air Force Network Operations Center, under the service's new "Cyber Command," typically will block all sites first, and then review which ones should be permitted to make their way through to Air Force personnel.

The concern is that leaked information will wend its way through blogs and into the wrong hands (although major news outlets are cited as being the primary source of sensitive information being leaked). YouTube and MySpace are banned because -- according to the Air Force -- they take up too much bandwidth.

As for the harm a blog can actually cause, one retired Air Force officer remarks that it's not necessarily what the blog itself may state but instead it's the good intentions of an airman who posts a comment or correction. In doing so, he or she may reveal more than intended -- and put good information into the hands of bad people.

Oddly enough, some Web sites that are considered recommended reading for airmen by the Air Force itself have been blocked because they are characterized as blogs.

But perhaps the Air Force only has itself to blame for blogs. After all, didn't the military invent the Internet?

From Wired.

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General Motors Chairman and CEO Rich Wagoner used his keynote address at this year's CES in Las Vegas to outline his company's vision of the future of car technology. The presentation was the first ever by an automobile manufacturer at CES. The most significant item Wagoner touched upon was GM's answer to environmental concerns and the need for alternative sources of energy to power automobiles in the coming years. The answer, Wagoner declared, could be found in the 5th generation fuel cell concept vehicle that rolled out onto the stage with him, a sleek SUV called the Cadillac Provoq.

The Provoq, an impressive looking silver specimen, relies on EFlex technology, using GM's latest generation of hydrogen fuel cells and an Advanced Lithium Ion Battery to power it. The result is a vehicle that can achieve top speeds of 100 miles per hour, go from 0 to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds, get 300 miles per tank of hydrogen and produces no emissions. In addition, the car comes complete with a solar panel on the roof to power accessories and a front grill with louvers that optimize the vehicle's aerodynamics.

EFlex technology – that is, electronically driven cars that have flexible power-deriving capabilities, will function by charging from an electronic source, combining that with a small ethanol or diesel engine, or a hydrogen fuel cell. EFlex allows vehicles to drive up to 40 miles with a single charge from an electronic source. Since most commuters only drive within that range on a daily basis, the zero emission product is astounding. Should the car owner need to travel further, the engine generator uses the other flexible sources of power to allow the car to run at a ridiculous 150 miles per gallon!

Until such cars are available, Wagoner pointed to the FlexFuel models that run on up to 85% ethanol, whose production GM will increase to 50% of all of its cars by 2012. The country will need to have more E85 fuel pumps, however, if the ethanol-based system is to be effective nationwide. Over the next four years, GM also plans to introduce 16 new hybrid models.

Wagoner dished out another hint of the future when he discussed the potential for cars to drive themselves. He shared that GM recently won the DARPA competition, a challenge in which the Chevy Tahoe "Boss" navigated on its own a 60 mile course that simulated urban conditions in under six hours.

OnStar, GM's telematics system, also had its share of developments. The 8th generation of OnStar will soon provide vital information to rescuers following a collision, such as what part of the car was hit and how hard, as well as whether it rolled over. Furthermore, OnStar will also feature Turn By Turn Navigation, a new directions service. Another service coming includes a partnership with MapQuest to add a "send to OnStar" function. Perhaps the most important OnStar upgrade, however, was the "stolen vehicle slowdown" feature, which will gradually decrease power to suspected stolen vehicles upon a request by law enforcement. GM also plans on introducing OnStar in China this year.

Finally, Mr. Wagoner introduced V2V technology that will allow cars to communicate with each other in order to avoid collisions. Using transponders and GPS technology, one car will alert another behind it to a sudden stop, allowing the second car to automatically begin slowing down even if the driver is unaware of the situation.

Gallery: The Cadillac Provoq

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Chances are you've never heard of a scramjet, and if you have, we can almost guarantee you've never seen one in action (unless you happen to work for NASA or DARPA). The concept of scramjets has been around for a while -- President Reagan even announced a major scramjet project, the National Aerospace Plane, in his 1986 State of the Union address. Reagan envisioned the scramjet replacing the space shuttle, military bombers and commercial aircraft. The program never got off the ground and was canceled by President Clinton in 1994.

Recent advances, however, have moved the scramjet from the lab to field tests. While researchers have been testing scramjets for a couple years, the most recent tests have been extremely favorable.

Scramjets work by sucking air to a chamber that narrows until the air is so condensed it ignites. Just before ignition, standard jet fuel is injected into the chamber. The lack of moving parts and modern construction materials mean that scramjets can withstand much more heat and force than a standard turbine-powered jet engine. Standard jet turbines would melt around Mach 3, but theoretically scramjets should be viable up to Mach 15, or around 10,000 miles per hour. That means that a two-hour flight from New York to Tokyo is theoretically possible.

Of course, the interest in scramjets isn't just about transportation. The military foresees scramjet-powered intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe before an enemy would even have a chance to respond. And, of course, America isn't the only one racing for the prize. The governments of China, Australia, and others are in hot pursuit of the first practical scramjet engine.

From Slashdot and Popular Science

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It's been said that a dog is a man's best friend. It's also been said that one day robots will take over the world and put us all to work doing their bidding. So, it's with conflicted feelings that we report on a new robot dog, one that has the potential to be a little more useful than Sony's dearly departed (and frequently copied) Aibo. This new robo-mutt, called LittleDog, has been developed at American robotics company Boston Dynamics for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA). The hope is that it will someday become a battle-ready companion for soldiers at war.

The dogs, which at this point look something like a boom-box with legs, have been delivered to various top robotics universities around the country, including MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon, for them to develop the best software to control the bots. Each month the universities will send in their latest versions of the software they develop for DARPA scientists to put through its paces, tasking the robot pooches with scampering over obstacles and the like, as shown in the above test video that demonstrates current submissions from Carnegie Mellon and USC.

What exactly the military will do with these dogs remains to be seen, but scouting and recon along with possible supply delivery seem perfectly reasonable. Games of fetch, however, are probably out of the question ... at least until someone grafts a head onto these suckers.

From New Scientist Tech

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DARPAtech, the research arm of the Pentagon, is showing off a wide range of ground breaking tech at its annual conference. First up is the Trauma Pod, a self contained, portable, robo-surgeon. The big news about the Trauma Pod is that it will be ready for deployment in 2009.

Researchers were also showing off a Breathalyzer that can supposedly detect a broad range of diseases, including breast cancer. Menssana Research, the maker of the Breath Collecting Apparatus, claims the device is as accurate as a mammogram.

Also on display are three new battle field ready robots, including the four-legged, sensor-equipped, Little Dog (for handling uneven terrain); the idiot proof, helicopter-like Micro Air Vehicle; and the larger, completely autonomous Organic Air Vehicle, which can land in an area, perform surveillance, then return again to base all by itself.

From Slashdot

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