[extropy-chat] Cool stuff for Newtonmas

[Mike Lorrey]

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Cool121604,,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl

COOL TECH THIS WEEK: 
Ray Gun Plans, Robotic Fish, Powered Exoskeleton Suits 
--------------------------------------------------------------
  
  A step closer to working ray guns, RoboPike and RoboTuna, and
Starship Troopers for real -- keep up with the cutting-edge military
tech news from the past week. 
 
By Noah Shachtman and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, DefenseTech.org

Industry Bigs Team Up on Ray Guns

Two of the heavyweights of the defense industry are teaming up to
develop "a laser armed combat vehicle," Baltimore Business Journal
says.

Northrop Grumman, which is building the Army's Tactical High Energy
Laser, will put together the ray gun. United Defense, maker of the
Bradley Fighting Vehicle, "will develop a hybrid [gas/electric] combat
vehicle that would carry the laser weapon," according to the Journal.

There's no contract with the Pentagon, yet, for such a weapon. But the
partnership represents the rapid evolution of laser technology, company
execs note. The Tactical High Energy Laser has had a number of
successful tests, shooting down incoming rockets. The modified 747
Airborne Laser, after a seemingly-endless slumber, is beginning to make
progress. 

More importantly, electric-powered lasers are finally starting to build
up the power they need to work as weapons. In a few months, researchers
at the Lawrence Livermore national lab and elsewhere plan to test a 25
kilowatt solid-state laser. If those trials work out as expected, the
Defense Department will then start handing out grants for a laser with
a hundred kilowatts of power -- that's widely-considered the threshold
for ray gun action to begin.

"Operational demonstrations and systems will become reality in the near
future," Patrick Caruana, vice president of Space and Missile Defense
for Northrop Grumman Space Technology, said in a press release. 

The vehicle is meant to fight off mortars, drones, and other threats
from the air. To prove to the Pentagon that the machine is worth
funding, "Northrop Grumman and United Defense are pursuing ground
vehicle-based laser system demonstrations that will prove the
effectiveness and utility of high-energy lasers against threats and
will provide critical packaging and integration activities that will
demonstrate the operational usefulness of these systems."

There's More: One step forward, one step back. The Airborne Laser's
first flight test in two years was cut short this week, after some
"anomalous instrumentation readings." Space News says a cabin pressure
problem was to blame. 



Robo-Crappie, Anyone?

The People's Daily (China) reports that the Beijing University of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (Beihang) and the Chinese Academy of
Sciences have developed an "underwater bionic robotic fish." Apparently
these things are big in Asia. A Japanese toy company has a whole line
of fish, jellyfish, turtles and an ammonite. An ammonite?

Anywho ... at the bottom of the AFP wire story, I noticed a reference
to "robotic lamprey parasites." I expected the typical "perfidious
CHICOMs" story, but the article was actually all about research by the
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) into biomechanical
robots--including the aforementioned robotic lamprey parasite.

Did anyone else know that DARPA was funding an entire biomechanical
bestiary, including birds and cockroaches? The FY 2005 Defense Budget
contains $ 90 million in unclassified funding for "Biologically Based
Materials and Devices," including $ 38 million for "Bioinspired and
Bioderived Materials."

Some of the fish-related work is being performed at MIT. Insomniacs may
wish to peruse “A Swimming Robot Actuated by Living Muscle Tissue”
prepared by Drs. Hugh Herr and Robert G. Dennis for DARPA. Herr and
Dennis detail the exploits of one RoboPike, which is the follow-on to
-- I swear every word of this is true -- RoboTuna. I know you don’t
believe me, so here is the fact sheet.

-- Dr. Jeffrey Lewis


Real-Life Exoskeletons Emerge

I've got an itty-bitty article in tomorrow's New York Times Magazine,
on real-life exoskeletons. You can read it here. But, to give you guys
a window into how the editing process works, I thought I'd show you my
first draft. It's a bit more florid, and less clear, than what finally
appeared in print. 


It was just a few steps, clunky and deliberate, like a toddler's
waddle. But to a far-flung group of engineers, soldiers, and science
fiction fans, these strides, on a treadmill inside a University of
California, Berkeley laboratory, couldn't have been more profound. Here
was a man, walking naturally, more or less, with the help of a set of
mechanical muscles wrapped around his legs – a real-life exoskeleton. 

The ur-geek author Robert Heinlein first dreamed up the idea of
soldiers stepping into suits of powered armor, to make them stronger
and faster, in his 1959 classic Starship Troopers. Sigourney Weaver
cemented the exoskeleton in the collective consciousness in 1986, when
she donned a metallic over-suit in Aliens, and kicked some slimy,
interstellar ass. 

In the real world, though, researchers struggled to replicate
Sigourney's heroics. The exoskeletons they built were too stiff, too
unnatural in their gait. Engineers would try to have them move as much
like a human as possible. It never seemed to work. 

The problem was that researchers were trying too hard, Berkeley
engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni finally realized. When people
walk, they make an endless series of unconscious calculations and
corrections to keep their stride. It's way too complicated a task for
machines to handle. So instead of pre-programming the exoskeleton's
every step, Kazerooni decided to let go. He set his exoskeleton up with
a set of 40 sensors, and let it follow wherever the person inside
wanted to wander. 

The result, called BLEEX (short for "Berkeley Lower Extremity
Exoskeleton") is a set of modified combat boots, attached to what look
like metal braces that snake up the sides of the legs. Those connect
with a tough plastic vest and backpack, where the exoskeleton's brain –
a Pentium-5 equivalent processor -- sits. 

About 70 pounds of stuff can be crammed into the pack. But that load
only feels like five pounds or so, once the exoskeleton is turned on;
the mechanical legs pick up the rest. (BLEEX 2, slated for June, should
be able to carry 150 pounds, and amble at a four mile-per-hour clip.)
The Pentagon – which has been funding much of Kazerooni's research –
wants the machine to ease the burden on G.I.s, who routinely haul more
that a hundred pounds of gear into battle. 

But Kazerooni sees his exoskeleton as more than just a "war machine."
The mechanical legs might someday help the elderly get around, he
hopes. Replacing grandma's walker is a long way from Aliens. But at
least it's real. 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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