Department of Mechanical Engineering

MOSAIC‘11

ROBOT IN ACTION
AUTHORS:

SRINIVAS S SARNATH K J

I YEAR IT I YEAR IT

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET

ABSTRACT:

Everyone knows that being a soldier is a dangerous job, but some

of the tasks that soldiers are required to do are more dangerous than
others. Walking through minefields, deactivating unexploded bombs or
clearing out hostile buildings, for example, are some of the most
dangerous tasks a person is asked to perform in the line of duty.

What if we could send robots to do these jobs instead of humans?

This Paper Deals with the advancements of ROBOTICS IN

FIELD of MILITARY and the Future of ROBOTICS in future years to
come.

Now, let's get started.!!!!

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET

PRESENT USE: for a robot. However, there are some
essential characteristics that a robot
The term “robot” is often a
must have and this might help you to
misnomer in the present day to refer
decide what is and what is not a robot.
to these machines, since while a robot
It will also help you to decide what
performs “autonomous or
features you will need to build into a
preprogrammed tasks” most “robots”
machine before it can count as a
in current use are in fact remote
robot.
controlled by a human operator and
has no automation or intelligence, due A robot has these essential
to the limitations of current artificial characteristics:
intelligence. Robots are used
Sensing First of all your robot would
increasingly in wartime situations to
have to be able to sense its
reduce human casualties, being used
surroundings. It would do this in ways
for a mix of both combat against the
that are not unsimilar to the way that
enemy and non-combat roles such as
you sense your surroundings. Giving
scouting and bomb disposal. At
your robot sensors: light sensors
present stages robot casualties are less
(eyes), touch and pressure sensors
financially damaging than human,
(hands), chemical sensors (nose),
SWORD taking $230,000 to produce
hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and
while the average cost of a U.S.
taste sensors (tongue) will give your
soldier from enlistment to internment
robot awareness of its environment.
is $4,000,0 Developments.

Movement A robot needs to be able

WHAT EXACTLY IS A ROBOT?
to move around its environment.
As strange as it might seem, Whether rolling on wheels, walking
there really is no standard definition on legs or propelling by thrusters a

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET

robot needs to be able to move. To
count as a robot either the whole robot
moves, like the Sojourner or just parts
of the robot moves, like the Canada
Arm.
Energy A robot needs to be able to
power itself. A robot might be solar
powered, electrically powered, battery
powered. The way your robot gets its
energy will depend on what your
robot needs to do.
Intelligence A robot needs some kind
of "smarts." This is where
programming enters the pictures. A
programmer is the person who gives
the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will
have to have some way to receive the
program so that it knows what it is to
do.
ROBOT SOLDIERS
Defense contractors in the USA
are hard at work developing
autonomous "robot soldiers", but most
current models look more like tanks
SRINIVAS, SARNATH
than humans. There are problems with
threat recognition and response; some
models will not shoot cows with
guerillas crouched behind them, but
will fire at anything stenciled with an
AK-47 silhouette.
BASIC TRAINING:
The military doesn't use the
kinds of humanoid assault robots
we've come to expect from films like
"The Terminator." Whether or not a
robot looks like a human doesn't
matter much in today's military
applications. Robots come in many
shapes and sizes, and although there
isn't really any single definition of a
robot, one common definition is this:
a machine that is controlled, in whole
or in part, by an onboard computer.
Robots also have sensors that allow
them to get information from their
surroundings, some form of
locomotion and a power source.
If military robots aren't shaped like
humans, what shapes do they come
MOSAIC’11, VCET
in? It depends on the kinds of jobs the
robot is built to carry out. Robots that
have to negotiate difficult terrain use
tank treads. Flying robots look pretty
much like small airplanes. Some
robots are the size of trucks, and they
look pretty much like trucks or
bulldozers. Other, smaller robots have
a very low profile to allow for great
maneuverability.
One other important thing to
remember about military robots:
Robots designed to help soldiers on
the battlefield have to be carried onto
the battlefield by those soldiers. For
that reason, robot builders try to
design "man-portable" designs. A
man-portable robot can be carried
by a single soldier, usually in a
special backpack.

Today's military robots don't do Small Bots: TALON:

a whole lot on their own. Their
The most common robots
computer brains aren't very
currently in use by the military are
sophisticated in terms of artificial
small, flat robots mounted on
intelligence (AI). AI is a form of
miniature tank treads. These robots
computer program that allows the
are tough, able to tackle almost any
robot to process information and
terrain and usually have a variety of
make some decisions on its own.
sensors built in, including audio and
Instead of independent AI, most
video surveillance and chemical
military robots are remote-controlled
detection. These robots are versatile,
by human operators. The military
with different sensor or weapon
doesn't usually use the term "robot" --
packages available that mount to the
it calls them unmanned ground
main chassis. Virtually all of them are
vehicles (UGVs) or unmanned aerial
man-portable.
vehicles (UAVs).

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET

TALON devices and a mechanical arm. A
lightweight (60-lb/27-kg) version
The TALON is a man-portable
omits the arm. TALONs were used
robot operating on small treads. It
for search and rescue at WTC Ground
weighs less than 100 lbs (45 kg) in its
Zero, and they have been used in
base configuration. TALON is
Bosnia , Afghanistan and Iraq for the
designed to be very durable -- one of
disposal of live grenades, improvised
the robots reportedly fell off a bridge
explosive devices and other
and into a river in Iraq . Some time
dangerous explosives.
later, the soldiers set up the TALON's
control unit and simply drove it out of Recently, the TALON was
the river . That brings up another prepared to take on an even bigger
important feature of the TALON -- it's role. All TALONs are now equipped
amphibious . with chemical, gas, temperature and
radiation sensors. The military is even
TALON is operated with a
running tests on TALONs that carry
joystick control, has seven speed
guns. "TALON robots can be
settings (top speed is 6 feet/1.8 meters
configured with M240 or M249
per second) and can use its treads to
machine guns or Barrett 50-caliber
climb stairs, maneuver through rubble
rifles," according to manufacturer
and even take on snow.
Foster Miller.

Versatility has been designed

Big Bots: ACER
into the TALON as well, with
multiple possible configurations Larger military robots are
available that adapt the robot to the basically trucks or tanks with
situation at hand. The basic TALON computers in them, operated by
includes audio and video listening remote control.

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET

ACER (Armored combat
engineering robot) :
ACER is another robot made
by Mesa Robotics. This robot is about
the size of a small bulldozer or a
Zamboni.
ACER can handle many heavy-
duty tasks, such as clearing out
explosives with a mechanical arm,
clearing and cutting obstacles down
with a plow blade or a giant cutter,
pulling disabled vehicles (up to and
including buses), hauling cargo in a
trailer and serving as a weapons
platform. This robot can roll along
with a mine-sweeper attached to the
front, clearing a field of
personnel mines before any humans
have to walk there.
One of ACER's
innovative uses is as
firefighting/decontamination
platform. Equipped with a pan-and-tilt
nozzle, ACER can pull its own supply
of foam retardant or decontaminant in
SRINIVAS, SARNATH
a 350-gallon (1,325-liter) tank. A
nozzle can also be mounted on a
mechanical arm for very precise
aiming.
Flying Bots: Global Hawk and Pointer
The military uses several
different flying robots, mainly for
reconnaissance . Instead of UGVs,
these are known as UAVs (unmanned
aerial vehicles), and they are
sometimes referred to as drones .
UAVs look like model aircraft, and
they range in size from small planes
that can be held by a person and
launched with a good throw, like the
FQM-151 Pointer, to full-size
anti- airplanes that operate by remote
control, like the RQ-4A Global Hawk.
Flying Bots: Predator:
more
Reconnaissance plays a key
a
role in military planning -- drones
help military commanders keep track
of their own troops and also spot
MOSAIC’11, VCET
enemy troops that might be waiting to military use, recently held a widely
ambush soldiers. publicized robot race to see how far
along robot AI had come. It turns out
Flying robots like the Predator
that AI is still pretty limited -- not a
provide constant real-time data on
single robot completed the course. So
troop movements, enemy locations
even as the abilities of robots
and weather. In at least one case, a
increase, it seems that for the
flying robot did a lot more than just
foreseeable future, a human soldier
spot the enemy: Predators can be
will still be required at the control
fitted with Hellfire missiles, and when
unit.
one of these Air Force drones spotted
an anti-aircraft gun in southern Iraq in
March 2003, it used one of the Hell
fires to take it out.

CONCLUSION:

Here after we conclude that

military robots are certainly essential
to save the mankind from the
humanoid assault activities. Today's
military robots are limited in their
autonomy and their range. They are
essentially tethered to human For the future years to

controllers. The Defense Advanced come………………………….

Research Projects Agency (DARPA),

the U.S. government entity that funds
and develops new technologies for

SRINIVAS, SARNATH MOSAIC’11, VCET