Talon Robots into Iraq in Spring!

The Army's new Talon robot -- machine gun-equipped, and due to arrive in Iraq this spring.

I know their is already a thread on the subject but they're sending these babies into Iraq...




www.wired.com...

Darn beat me to it. I was gonna post. Still awesome though.

So how are these robots going to be controlled? Great invention nonetheless. The Terminator would be proud.

Robotic warriors. . USA, we own the world.

I think they are human controled the big box in the picture is the control. The are going to be great for sending into a building were you know insurgents are hold up in. Pacbots getting a big brother in Iraq. Im all for sending a robot rather then some young US troop into a dangerous place.

All your bases are belong to us

Yeah they are pretty cool. The best thing about them is the fact that they help put soldiers out of harms way. It too bad they are only now getting them into Iraq, but perhaps they needed some last minute tweaking.

They had a demonstration recently on TechTV(before it was G4TechTV) where they showcased the Talon with a live-fire presentation. From what I saw of the Talon's capabilities it will be very helpful within the urban environment. On the program they displayed the Talon with machine-gun, grenade launcher, and rocketlauncher attachments all of which appeared to be very effective. I could imagine a squad of these things rounding a corner and catching a insurgent completely by suprise, wondering what the hell it is.

I hope we get enough of these over there to make a real difference.

Looks like a million dollar sitting duck for a RPG, a land mine, or a buried bomb.

Heck even a long stick pushing it over on its site, or getting rammed by an old jalopy driven by an illiterate iraqi with $100 worth of equipment.

I also imagine a $100 kalashnikov could take out the arial, sensors etc with a bit of target practice.

Still its a fun toy to play with, and the contractors get to make something...

In the real word toys like this would be made mincemeat .... there is a reality gap sometimes in the military...

[edit on 2-12-2004 by Netchicken]

Originally posted by Netchicken
Looks like a million dollar sitting duck for a RPG, a land mine, or a buried bomb.

I thought the same. And hopefully the US Military has. I'm almost positive that there are enough cameras to cover the 360degree perspective of this machine. And some type of 'flip' mechanism that will ensure its stability.

This machine would dominate those 'Robot War' competitions.

Cameras can be taken out with a quick machinegun burst....

Sorry i am so cynical, but it looks just like a big toy, I can imagine Iraqi terrorists rolling round laughing when this thing starts coming down the street.

... maybe THATS the secret weapon....

Once you take out the cameras - even with a can of paint or a well armed paint bomb, the operator will have to get a visual on it to get it back safely, when he pops his head over the wall, or whatever, then take him out.

Originally posted by Simulacra
I'm almost positive that there are enough cameras to cover the 360degree perspective of this machine. And some type of 'flip' mechanism that will ensure its stability.

This machine would dominate those 'Robot War' competitions.

Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly. When the robot is rendered useless by a mechanical failure or computer error, there would be a fail safe bomb that explodes the Talon destroying everything within a certain radius.


[edit on 12/2/2004 by Simulacra]

The Nazis where first...
www.freerepublic.com...

It was only a antitank mine, but robotics are old news in warfare, I think.

looks like a very expensive decoy..

I went on Foster-Miller's website. I found some interesting information about their staple product: Talon Robots.

TALON Robots -- The Soldier's Choice

TALON� robots are powerful, durable, lightweight tracked vehicles that are widely used for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), reconnaissance, communications, sensing, security, defense and rescue. They have all-weather, day/night and amphibious capabilities and can navigate virtually any terrain.

How are they different from other robots on the market?

*
Man-portable -- At less than 100 lb (45 kg), TALON can be easily transported and is instantly ready for operation.
*
Rugged -- TALON robots can take a punch and stay in the fight. One was blown off the roof of a Humvee in Iraq recently while the Humvee was crossing a bridge over a river. TALON flew off the bridge and plunged into the river below. Soldiers later used its operator control unit to drive the robot back out of the river and up onto the bank so they could retrieve it.
*
Fast -- TALON is the fastest robot on the market today with seven speed settings.
*
High payload capacity -- Long-term system versatility optimizes investment. TALON has the highest payload capacity and payload-to-weight ratio, allowing for the incorporation of a broad array of sensor packages.
*
Mobile -- Climbs stairs, negotiates rock piles, overcomes concertina wire, plows through snow and surf; can right itself.
*
Intuitive -- Easiest robot to operate; joystick controls.
*
Withstand repeated decontamination -- Demonstrated at Ground Zero after 2001 World Trade Center attack in New York City. Electronics withstood 45 straight days of being decontaminated twice a day without failing.
*
Long battery life -- TALON robots have the longest battery life of all man-portable robots.

Here is the badboy in action. And yes that is a block of C4.

LOL. So they're already in Iraq, or maybe just being tested...

Another new Army thing I like is the Unmanned Ambulance.

The REV (Robot Ectraction Vehicle) carries a second, smaller robot that can drag the wounded off the battlefield. So basically the the smaller unmanned one comes out of the bigger umanned one and has a claw type of grip and would grab your uniform and pull you into the bigger one and then drive tou to the nearest hospital.

I can all of the sudden see alot of nerds scavenging the battlefields after the fights, looking for gadgets to build stuff from!

I think those robots feature self destruct devices, so nerd travel won�t happen
It is a good idea and funny that the Americans took over our idea (unmanned mini tanks vs insurgents)
We should have patented it :p
But i guess it will take 5 to 10 years for the robots to be efficient enough.
Does the ambulance robot have an AI of some kind or is it remote controled?

That�s one expensive toy ..But i very much doubt that it will have any useful use. Maybe if used by the way nazis used those, drive it throught the door and blast the house into atoms. But wouldn�t it be cheaper to just shoot the house down with a tank. And if those would be used against any proper enemy with an todays tech army they would be major pain in the a$$. Imagine troops sending one of those in front line and just to realize that enemy has radio controller of same kind and the baby goes boom in the center of own troops. Well bad idea anyway.
-ap

Originally posted by aape
That�s one expensive toy

..But i very much doubt that it will have any useful use. Maybe if used by the way nazis used those, drive it throught the door and blast the house into atoms. But wouldn�t it be cheaper to just shoot the house down with a tank. And if those would be used against any proper enemy with an todays tech army they would be major pain in the a$$. Imagine troops sending one of those in front line and just to realize that enemy has radio controller of same kind

and the baby goes boom in the center of own troops. Well bad idea anyway.
-ap

I bet they will get quite a bit of use, the packbots in Iraq and Afghan have been keeping busy, for things like to see around the corner to drive into a cave and see whats in there, also they dont cost all that much, and people dont care when they read in the paper "4 Packbots were destroyed today when hit a IED", all people will think is "Hey, at least it wasn't people".
I think putting guns on them was overdue, they will definiatly get plenty of use.

Originally posted by Ulvetann
I can all of the sudden see alot of nerds scavenging the battlefields after the fights, looking for gadgets to build stuff from!

Probally so. If their was a blown up robot outside my house I'd take anything that looked:
Good
Useful
Expensive
And either use, sell or store it...

Originally posted by tsuribito
I think those robots feature self destruct devices, so nerd travel won�t happen

But i guess it will take 5 to 10 years for the robots to be efficient enough.
Does the ambulance robot have an AI of some kind or is it remote controled?

Not every peice of the robot would havea self destruct, everyhting has a weakness, an EMP would fry thier circuits, no self destruct, so "nerds" would be able to take bits off of them!

Originally posted by tsuribito
Does the ambulance robot have an AI of some kind or is it remote controled?

Probally does, otherwise how would it tell a wounded soldier from a normal one, maybe blood reading (don't ask) but it would usually have a remote controller.
We won't see real AI for a few more years (5-10) because it would be far too dangerous to risk it yet, mainly because we don't really have any kind of weapon against them...

Imagine using these things to run interference for groups like Delta Force, rather than having Rangers do it.

Or imagine a remote controlled squad of these things taking and watching over prisoners. No need to be afraid for you life of some suspicious movement.

Imagine these things being parachuted in from unreachable altitudes behind enemy lines. Hell imagine packing them in a casing and shooting them to those zones.

Imgaine UAV's doing surveillance on a region, high altitude supersonic jets releasing automated payloads onto predesignated targets, and then groups of these things truddling in with Predator airdrone armed support.