A robot ‘dog’ developed in the US could be used by the British Army to support troops on the front line, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) - the procurement arm of the MoD based in Bristol - agreed a major deal to buy the state-of-the-art tech from US robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics.
The British Army’s Future Capability Group (FCG) at Abbey Wood is now experimenting with the novel tech, which is already being used by organisations such as the National Grid and oil giant BP.
The battery-powered robot, known as Spot, can be used for tasks such as border patrols or in situations that could potentially be hazardous to humans. It can carry and power up to 14kg of inspection equipment, and can be operated at a distance using a tablet.
The robot uses infrared technology, and is designed to perform "non-offensive tasks" to protect troops by searching and scanning or delivering medicine or food into disaster areas.
“Robotics and autonomous systems are becoming increasingly important in allowing soldiers to operate faster, for longer and enabling them to step back from some of the most challenging and dangerous tasks,” said Suzy Harris, head of expeditionary robotics for FCG.
According to Ms Harris, if the robots are on a mission and run out of power they are programmed to return to their dock - but will send a signal to another robot dog to continue the mission first.
“[Spot] uses tech that allows it to open doors without anyone controlling it; it’s pre-programmed but there will be a human positioned at a distance to monitor it,” she told BusinessLive .
Earlier this week, some 40 coders assembled in Bristol to use their skills to discover what capabilities Spot could offer the Army. The coders, who were from companies across the UK including tech giant IBM, were challenged to programme the dogs to do tasks including a 50-metre sprint, a gymnastics routine and problem solving.
Visiting @DefenceHQ in Bristol for a sneak peek of these amazing robot dogs! They could eventually be used by @BritishArmy on the front line during conflicts #tech #robotics #AI @DefenceES @DESLandEqpt
To read the full story later this week sign up here: https://t.co/8wd4BAhR8T pic.twitter.com/njg3ScsSF6— Hannah Baker (@Hannahjbaker)
Colonel Anders-Brown, customer lead at DE&S, told BusinessLive the robots are “more reliable” than humans in some ways but don’t have human perceptions so need to be coded to do specific tasks.
“The coders have confirmed what we already knew,” he said. “These are highly capable systems and could significantly reduce risk to life of our soldiers by removing the requirement to carry out dangerous activity in the modern battlespace.”
Colonel Anders-Brown remained tight-lipped about how much the robotic dogs cost, but said the army was investing "heavily" in new technologies. "This is just the experiment stage; we now have to prove what the Army of the future might look like."
He said the “jury is still out” as to whether robots will ever replace jobs, adding: “When you are putting humans in harm’s way, [using robots] is not a bad thing."
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