DARPA Seeks Robots Which ‘Approach the Efficiency of Human and Animal Actuation’

Published on July 9, 2012 by admin · No Comments

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which acts as a kind of mad scientist arm of the Pentagon, has put a significant focus on robotics over recent years. Even the Navy is getting in on the action with their unbelievable SAFFiR robot.

Now they’re clearing out the significant numbers of out-of-date robots to give them to police departments while spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds we don’t even have in order to continue to build newer and more human-like robots.

Keep in mind, we aren’t talking about cool robots that will scramble you some eggs and make toast in the morning. We’re talking about war machines, although some might be slightly cuter than others. After all, this is the Department of “Defense” we are talking about here.

While some of these advances could indeed be used for good, like mind-controlled robots and wheelchairs for the injured or disabled, a kind of “electric skin,” etc. these positive applications are overshadowed by inherently militaristic nature of DARPA’s work.

One of the many programs DARPA is now focusing on – which we know very little about, as per usual – is their Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) project, which actually began last year.

The M3 program is focused on funneling spending into research aimed at improving just about everything involved in the creation, production and operation of robots.

Obviously some of these intended improvements are maximum mobility and manipulation, but also better manufacturing processes, enhanced performance, and most of all, energy efficiency.

Currently, one of the biggest drawbacks to militarized robot technology is the relatively high power demands and thus inefficiency of the units.

For instance, SAFFiR is not nearly as powerful as it could be if it could actually run for an hour or longer. Such inefficiencies render these types of technologies nearly useless for actual operations in the field.

“Humans and animals have evolved to consume energy very efficiently for movement,” DARPA officials said in a July 3 statement.