Boeing reported today that it has successfully destroyed several flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using a laser weapon mounted on a truck. The weapon was mounted to an Avenger Air Defense vehicle, which normally uses surface-to-air missiles for attacks. The successful test involved the Laser Avenger tracking and destroying three UAVs in flight, which set a milestone for, “the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV”.

Boeing was a little reserved when addressing the question of how exactly the UAVs were destroyed, only saying, “A hole was burned in a critical flight control element of the UAV, rendering the aircraft unflyable.” As for how long it took to do this, what “critical flight control element” it was, or if such a system is truly viable in a combat situation, that is left to the reader’s imagination. It should also be noted that Boeing has apparently made significant progress with this system, as only about 1 year ago they were proclaiming the destruction of IEDs by the Laser Avenger.

“We doubled the laser power; added sophisticated acquisition, tracking and pointing capability; and simplified and ruggedized the design,” said Lee Gutheinz, Boeing program director for High-Energy Laser/Electro-Optical Systems. “Boeing developed and integrated these upgrades in less than a year, underscoring our ability to rapidly respond to warfighters’ needs.”

An interesting point is that Boeing seems to be trying to sell the Military on the idea of destroying UAV threats to our soldiers, while, to my knowledge, there haven’t been any such threats to date. In fact, robotic air authority seems to be solidly on the USA’s side. Do they know something we don’t, or are they just being pessimistic?

Regardless, while we mourn for our robotic bretheren, I say this is pretty darn cool.

 

If anyone doubted the US Air Force’s commitment to unmanned (read: robots) aircraft, you won’t after you hear this: The Air Force plans on acquiring more unmanned than manned aircraft next year. That’s a pretty amazing statistic, and amounts to billions of dollars of potential new business for companies in that market. The USAF currently maintains about 27 unmanned vehcles in the air above Afghanistan and Iraq at all times, and plans to double that number over the next 3 years. But, in order to do that, they need to train hundreds of new pilots to help fly them. They might also considering training more counselors to help the pilots deal with the trauma.

We’ve reported on such matter before, but once again a US Military drone (robot) has successfully fired on and killed at least 5 militants (terrorists) on the Pakistani border. It’s great to hear that the “bad guys” are getting the due, and that US soldiers are being kept from harm by our robotic pals. Unfortunately, simply using an unmanned system to do your dirty work doesn’t eliminate all of the risks of combat. While the robot may be one the one carrying and firing the missile, humans are still ultimately giving the command and stuck with the consequences of taking a human life.

With great (robotic) power, comes great (robotic) responsibility. Shoot wisely.

You may remember our posts on the sad plight of iRobot, who had accused their ex-employee, Jameel Ahed, of stealing their design, only to have the US Military award a whopping $280 million dollar contract to said ex-employee, and rejecting iRobot. Oh the injustice!

Weep no more, fellow shareholders and Roomba lovers, because justice has been served! Unfortunately, the price of that justice was a cool $2.9million dollars. But, nobody said good ol’ Lex Rex came cheap.

In addition to the judges in both lawsuits rulling in favor of iRobot – one ruling that Robotic FX had infringed iRobot’s patent, and the other ruling that, Robotic FX stole proprietary information – Robotic FX will now be dissolved and its assets given to iRobot as payment.



In response to the news, the US DoD awarded iRobot the $280 million dollar contract that was previously awarded to Robotic FX. While iRobot’s stock price has a long way to go from the $24 high it was before all of these events transpired, the future is looking much brighter.



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The US Department of Defense (DoD) has released a report detailing the future of robotic military equipment and how the US military should proceed. The 188 page report (pdf) covers the next 25 years of unmanned military systems in the air, and sea, and on land.



This report is unique in that it address both ground and sea vehicles in addition to the much more "popular" and oft-used arial systems. This reinforces the Department’s position that integration of air, land, and sea systems is a vital part of the future of US military systems.

The report details recomendations made by field commanders and how further AI developments can lead to "thinking" systems.


Another fascinating aspect of the report is a huge appendix listing all the unmanned systems currently in use by the military. The image to the left is a shot of the Lockheed Martin Protector Unmanned Surface Vehicle.

If you have a hard time downloading the document, Roland Piquepaille provides a good outline.


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Robotic FX manufactures a tactical robot for military operations. It can be equipped for hazmat and EOD operations. The Negotiator and its bigger brother, the Negotiator 6X, are water resistant, can climb stairs, and weigh around 20lbs and 46lbs, respectively. Robotic FX has also recently won a $280 million USD contract with the US Army to ship 3,000 robots to the Middle East for Army operations.

There’s one slight problem though – iRobot is accusing Robotic FX of stealing designs for iRobot’s PackBot system, and of patent infringement. Not only did Robotic FX’s president, Jameel Ahed, formerly work at iRobot and access to technical information on the PackBot, but its hard to deny the amazing similarites between the two designs – especially manipulator arm and the patented front “flipper” design of the PackBot.

According to Defense News,

And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, according to this Boston Globe article, “iRobot’s suit alleges that one day after his resignation [from iRobot in June 2002], Ahed used his
still-active iRobot e-mail account to send confidential iRobot files to
a Robotic FX address.”

Also,

The suit also alleges that a court-ordered search of Hill’s aparement revealed a laptop, owned by Ahed, concealed under her bed running an eraser program – unfortunately, the program had done its job before the police were able to locate it.

All this said, I wonder if Robotic FX will have their hands full dealing with a major lawsuit and delivering 3,000 robots to the US Army.

Looks like Robotic FX may need one heck of a “negotiator” to get out of this one. May justice be done.

More info at Xconomy and Robot Stock News.

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