Sgt Teddy to the rescue
- Thread starter Ska Wars
- Start date
If I was on a battlefield with my guts hanging out I'd probably go into shock seeing Gentle Ben mk.2 coming over to rescue me.
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bad idea. plain and simple. first off a teddy bear face isn't going to put anymore at ease especially during a battle, it will just be FREEEEEEEEEAKY.
2nd, no robot will be able to pick up someone to save them, first off the person might not be in condition to move. 2nd the terrain or objects could prevent the system from working properly. 3 it could screw up and squeeze someone to death in it's bear paws of death!
2nd, no robot will be able to pick up someone to save them, first off the person might not be in condition to move. 2nd the terrain or objects could prevent the system from working properly. 3 it could screw up and squeeze someone to death in it's bear paws of death!
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oh ffs. nice waste of our tax dollars. they couldnt make it look like Charisma Carpenter? I'd much rather die in her arms. Really though, what a gigantic failure this will turn out to be. Here, let's put this wounded soldier up into harms way where everyone can see him (the thing is 6ft tall)... then we'll slowly motor our way back through a firefight - manuevering over and around debris/obstacles - just to make sure he's been hit...
I bet the thing cant withstand assault rifle caliber ammunition, not to mention a grenade or RPG or makeshift explosive. It doesnt offer any protection to the wounded person it's carrying. We cant even get armored Humvees for our guys and their investing in sh!te like this? Embarrassing.
I bet the thing cant withstand assault rifle caliber ammunition, not to mention a grenade or RPG or makeshift explosive. It doesnt offer any protection to the wounded person it's carrying. We cant even get armored Humvees for our guys and their investing in sh!te like this? Embarrassing.
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Armor problem was solved years ago. A robot like this would prevent the all too common occurence of one man getting hit and then having three others get hit as they try to rescue him.
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Ugh. Why do people always miss the point of these things? It's like the guy who created the bear suit when he started making armor for soldiers. Everyone kept going on about what it could or couldn't survive. That's not the point.
It's not a tank, it's not going to be going in there taking hits. It's job is purely to drag someone out of there so a soldier doesn't have to. A soldier isn't bullet proof, nor can he survive grenade or RPG fire either but they still do the same job. This things is purely being designed to cut down on casualities.
Anyway, if you'd read the story you'd know it doesn't move at 6ft, it only uses the legs when the terrain doesn't allow the tracks. So all things going well the casualty would be at a lower height.
Sorry if I seem like I'm laying into you mate, but I'm getting really tired of peoples knee jerk reactions to technology. If we don't try things like this we'll never learn owt.
Anyway, here's the homepage of Venc Robotics with some more info on the thing.
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The point most soldiers would rather rely their lifes on their comrades than on this thing 
. Perhaps its somekind of technology racism.
. Perhaps its somekind of technology racism.
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I dont feel layed into Ska. I respect your opinion fully.
I'm tired of our country's (I should be saying "current administration's" although they wouldnt be alone in history) misappropriation of funds/resources/partnerships.. so on and so forth. If you guys think this thing is going to be practical out in the battlefield, based on what I dont know, then I dont really have anything to say except I think it's probably the idea that sounds good to you. I don't think it's a bad idea myself, but this particular example - a bear faced robot that scoops people up into its arms - seems flimsy and costly at best considering it can and will be improved on, and who knows maybe it will lead to some terrific device that saves a lot of lives, no one said anything to the contrary, but I could write a book talking about the things our government should be spending money on that arent related to us being in a war.
Yet another multimillion, hell could be over a billion dollar contract to support us being at war with someone. Hello people in New Orleans, how is that janky FEMA trailer you've been livin in for how long now. Heeeey, how about all those ports we have that only 2% of the containers are looked at as they arrive into our country. The list of more deserving causes is mind boggling. But hey, our international diplomacy is rock bottom these days - 'ol dubya would like to crush any and all respect we had around the world before he's done so maybe a bear shaped rescue bot will be in high demand here in the short future.
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Edit - tell me, if you were a soldier or squad leader and you saw this thing go scooting across the hot zone, that you wouldnt shoot at it or blow it up? Of course it will take fire. It should be more along the lines of a tank. We dont know what the battlefield of tomorrow will look like but this thing (in it's current state) offers no protection - is an expensive item - needs to be dragged/carried/transported along with a squad - can be heavily damaged thereby making me wonder what good it's for except spending defense money - it needs power, from where that comes out in a mobile battlefield I dont know.. Dont get me wrong, I like the idea of keeping people safe, but this attempt is way off the mark and not needed when we have so many other pressing problems in our country.. problems that involve many more lives.
I'm tired of our country's (I should be saying "current administration's" although they wouldnt be alone in history) misappropriation of funds/resources/partnerships.. so on and so forth. If you guys think this thing is going to be practical out in the battlefield, based on what I dont know, then I dont really have anything to say except I think it's probably the idea that sounds good to you. I don't think it's a bad idea myself, but this particular example - a bear faced robot that scoops people up into its arms - seems flimsy and costly at best considering it can and will be improved on, and who knows maybe it will lead to some terrific device that saves a lot of lives, no one said anything to the contrary, but I could write a book talking about the things our government should be spending money on that arent related to us being in a war.
Yet another multimillion, hell could be over a billion dollar contract to support us being at war with someone. Hello people in New Orleans, how is that janky FEMA trailer you've been livin in for how long now. Heeeey, how about all those ports we have that only 2% of the containers are looked at as they arrive into our country. The list of more deserving causes is mind boggling. But hey, our international diplomacy is rock bottom these days - 'ol dubya would like to crush any and all respect we had around the world before he's done so maybe a bear shaped rescue bot will be in high demand here in the short future.
EDIT -
Edit - tell me, if you were a soldier or squad leader and you saw this thing go scooting across the hot zone, that you wouldnt shoot at it or blow it up? Of course it will take fire. It should be more along the lines of a tank. We dont know what the battlefield of tomorrow will look like but this thing (in it's current state) offers no protection - is an expensive item - needs to be dragged/carried/transported along with a squad - can be heavily damaged thereby making me wonder what good it's for except spending defense money - it needs power, from where that comes out in a mobile battlefield I dont know.. Dont get me wrong, I like the idea of keeping people safe, but this attempt is way off the mark and not needed when we have so many other pressing problems in our country.. problems that involve many more lives.
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If you read the site description, it's not just for combat. It can also be used to rescue people from places like nuclear reactors, structurally comprimised buildings, toxic chemical spill, etc. Places where humans cannot go.
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Now that's a much more reasonable set of uses for this thing, but dont you think we would be better served if the private sector handled the cost and R&D of such a device? There's plenty of money there. In terms of a prosperous future for our country (which what we spend our funds on goes hand in hand with) we are focusing in the wrong direction. Especially with contracts for things like this that cost major bucks and will end up costing much more (maybe even lives) through further refinement in order to be effective in a battlezone situation.
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Ah sorry, should of make myself clearer. I didn't mean people wouldn't shoot at it, more that it's not designed to be taking sustained fire like say an APC does or a tank.
I understand your anger at what you see as missuse of funds (the British government isn't much better, I've a mate who went to Afghanistan without proper boots), but I think likewise governments shouldn't be afraid to try stuff out. Aslong as this is being paid for out of the R&D budget I can't see any harm in atleast showing a bit of interest. As the article says, this isn't actually being made by the US army, rather a 3rd party which the Army is mearly helping to fund (this could be any amount of money really) which I assume is similar to that Mule thing that also came out not too long ago, or the cargo exo-suit.
From the article I got the impression this sort of thing would be used more for pulling people out of sniper areas or the victims of IED's rather than being deployed in a full blown fire fight, but I may be wrong.
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Anyway, sorry for taking the gleam off of your thread. I actually find the robotics field extremely interesting. Years of reading about or watching mechanized sci-fi in different media forms, tons of the show Robot Wars, some very cool robotics shows and competitions on DiscoveryHD or Science Channel always had me interested in sentient animated beings. Robots are just cool.
and then there's this 'thing'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfIlGYaVkF0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PJC3DWKGM8
haha ha cool, yet creepy
and then there's this 'thing'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfIlGYaVkF0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PJC3DWKGM8
haha ha cool, yet creepy
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Now where's the robot that picks up the busted robot that went to pick up the soldier?
And why did they choose a bear? Why not a kitty? I would much rather have a cute cudly kitten-bot resuce me out of the sandbox than some ferocious bear.
Back to real life now, could it be maintained easily with a good chance that it won't malfunction or break down? Now, say it can only take a few 7.62 russians/soviets before it gives out, whats the point? Being they're robots they wouldn't be amassed, and if a unit had one, they would probably only have one, or spare parts. Eh IDK
In the end, i think the brass would look at it like this. How much does it cost to train a soldier, and manufacture one of these. If it takes two men dieing to save one soldier, will that cost less than one of these robots doing the same?
And why did they choose a bear? Why not a kitty? I would much rather have a cute cudly kitten-bot resuce me out of the sandbox than some ferocious bear.
Back to real life now, could it be maintained easily with a good chance that it won't malfunction or break down? Now, say it can only take a few 7.62 russians/soviets before it gives out, whats the point? Being they're robots they wouldn't be amassed, and if a unit had one, they would probably only have one, or spare parts. Eh IDK
In the end, i think the brass would look at it like this. How much does it cost to train a soldier, and manufacture one of these. If it takes two men dieing to save one soldier, will that cost less than one of these robots doing the same?
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How much is your life worth to you?Now where's the robot that picks up the busted robot that went to pick up the soldier?
And why did they choose a bear? Why not a kitty? I would much rather have a cute cudly kitten-bot resuce me out of the sandbox than some ferocious bear.
Back to real life now, could it be maintained easily with a good chance that it won't malfunction or break down? Now, say it can only take a few 7.62 russians/soviets before it gives out, whats the point? Being they're robots they wouldn't be amassed, and if a unit had one, they would probably only have one, or spare parts. Eh IDK
In the end, i think the brass would look at it like this. How much does it cost to train a soldier, and manufacture one of these. If it takes two men dieing to save one soldier, will that cost less than one of these robots doing the same?
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Incorrect. Silky_Slim was arguing that the robots cost too much and that they might not be worth the cost, even if can save the lives of one or two men.
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