The military industry is always developing with particular speed, using all the most modern scientific developments. The development of computer technology and robotics did not remain aloof from the views of the military, and many armies of the world already have fully robotic combat units - sapper robots, drones, scouts, and combat robots began to appear in small numbers. Even if they are still quite primitive and they are far from android robots like the heroes of the movie "The Terminator", the appearance of such combat units is only a matter of time. Perhaps someday, in addition to the steel skeleton, they will receive artificial intelligence, which is in no way inferior in its abilities to the human brain.
Today is
Today, combat robots are firmly established in many armies of the world, especially in the US Army.
Sapper robots from iRobot
In particular, sapper robots of the PackBot family have been participating in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2002, currently there are about 300 of them. These robots perform here up to 600-700 operations per day. Their duties include demining the territory, laying communications, participating in hostilities. It is curious that the soldiers are so accustomed to their mechanical assistants that they are already giving them names and are having a hard time with the "death" of the robots. This is not surprising, because even if they are not perfect enough, these robots do very difficult and dangerous work.
PackBot 510
The PackBot weighs only 20 kg, but at the same time it has unique strength, it can withstand a fall from a high-rise building and get off with only a fright. The tracked chassis allows the robot to overcome any obstacles and bumps and even climb and descend stairs. In Afghanistan, these robots were used to search for Taliban militants in caves, in Iraq they were used to check tunnels dug in the area of Baghdad airport. The military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have given great food for thought to the creators of robotics, who tested their brainchildren in real combat conditions. So, the engineers of iRobot, who developed the PackBot, decided to arm it with a 12-round shotgun after one machine was lost during the battle at the hands of the rebels. True, before independently destroying the enemy's manpower is still a long way off, the decision to open fire is made by the system operator.
REDOWL Sniper Thunderstorm
The iRobot company, together with Boston University, has developed a prototype of a robot, the main task of which should be to find enemy snipers. The device was named REDOWL (Robotic Enhanced Detection Outpost With Lasers). This robot is able to search for enemy snipers and conduct real-time video recording using the built-in camera. The robot is equipped with a laser rangefinder, thermal imagers, sound detecting equipment, 4 autonomous video cameras and a GPS receiver. The robot finds the location of the sniper by the sound of the shot with a probability of up to 94%, while it cannot be confused by the echo of the shot, for example, during battles in the city. The software REDOWL (English red owl) is able to filter out false sound signals. The entire device weighs only 5.5 pounds. In theory, later, this robot itself will be able to return fire, but so far its chassis is not too powerful for installing small arms, and no one is going to trust the weapon to a machine without human control.
RedOwl
Battle robots
Since 2005, on the territory of Iraq, the American military began to use combat robots, which were developed by a special order of the Pentagon by the rather modest company Foster-Miller Inc. Initially, the machines, called Talon, were used only for laying mines, demining, destroying explosive devices, search and rescue operations, communications, and reconnaissance. Since 2005, they have already had more than 50,000 defused explosive devices. Now, after some refinement, these robots have received full-fledged weapons, they are equipped with an M249 automatic rifle of 5, 56 mm caliber. or machine gun М240 caliber 7, 62 mm. By focusing its gaze on the targets with the help of its 4 video cameras and a night vision device, the robot destroys the enemy.
Talon Robot
Talon uses a tracked chassis with a sufficiently strong structure, while its weight does not exceed 45 kg, which allows it to be carried by one person. Its powerful motor keeps it one of the fastest and most mobile devices in its class. Like most of its classmates, this robot is not completely autonomous, being controlled from the command post with the help of an operator who makes the final decisions.
Combat robot MRK-27-BT
The Russian analogue of Talon is the MRK-27 - BT robot, developed by the Applied Robotics Design Bureau of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. This robot is made on a mobile tracked chassis and has a solid set of weapons, as they say, for all occasions. The MRK-27-BT received from its creators two Bumblebee rocket-throwers, a Pecheneg machine gun of 7, 62 caliber, two rocket-assault grenade launchers and 6 smoke grenades. According to the developer Ilya Laverychev, soldiers will be able to independently install weapons on the new system, and, if necessary, remove weapons from the robot. This robot, like its overseas counterparts, has a remote control. It is controlled by two joysticks from a distance of 200 meters in the cable version or 500 meters when using radio control. At the same time, experts note that this robot has much greater stability and mobility than its American counterparts. But it only exists in single copies, while American robots have been mass-produced for a long time.
Robot MRK-27 - BT in the center
Tomorrow day
Currently, most modern robotics are capable of performing many complex tasks, but still require human control. Man has always strived for immortality, invulnerability, he is not yet able to give them to himself, but he is already capable of creating android robots with a strong metal skeleton (almost immortal by human standards). But in order to create a machine equal to itself, you need to teach it to think independently. The military has long turned its attention to attempts to create artificial intelligence (AI), these developments are under their close scrutiny. It is impossible to say when robots will appear on the battlefield capable of acting completely autonomously, without human intervention, but the likelihood that this will ever happen is quite high.
Nowadays, the beginnings of artificial intelligence have been used in aviation for quite some time. A modern autopilot is able to complete a flight from takeoff to landing completely without human assistance. Conventional AI vehicles are capable of covering significant distances without human assistance. In France and Japan, the railroads are operated by automatic trains controlled by AI, which is able to provide maximum comfort and convenience for passengers during the trip.
Today, the technology for the development of artificial intelligence includes several approaches, among which the following can be distinguished:
1) Neural circuits functioning on principles similar to the work of the human brain. They are used for handwriting and speech recognition, in financial programs, for making diagnoses, etc.
2) Evolutionary algorithms, when a robot creates programs by mutating them, crossing them (exchanging parts of programs) and testing them to accomplish any target task. In this case, the programs that achieve the best effect survive after many trial runs, which provides the effect of evolution.
3) Fuzzy logic - allows the computer to use terms and objects from the real world and interact with them. With the help of it, the computer must understand the meaning of such "human" terms as - warmer, close, almost. Fuzzy logic finds application in household appliances such as washing machines, air conditioners.
At the same time, more and more attention has recently been paid to psychophysiology and observations of the human brain obtained with its help. A person already roughly understands how our intellect and consciousness work. Brain scans and many experiments have shown that all our thoughts and feelings have a very real physical manifestation. Any thought is essentially a sequence of activation of a chain of neurons in our brain. This means that this process can be studied and learned to control it, to make computer simulations. Currently, there are already computer models that simulate models of human and animal neurons. Scientists managed to fully describe the work of the simplest animal - squid. The first models appear that combine neural systems and silicon electronics.
All of this gives scientists reason to believe that by 2030, computers will be able to achieve such computational power to match the capabilities of the human brain in its capabilities. In fact, this will make it possible to download human consciousness into a computer. It is even more likely that in 2020 the theoretical foundations of the consciousness of a purely machine mind will be created. In any case, in the period between 2025 and 2035, artificial intelligence will be able to catch up with human capabilities and then surpass it.
Sources used:
The main activity of TD Chermetkom is metalworking and manufacturing of metal products. You can buy metal wholesale and retail at a low price from a warehouse in Moscow. Visit chermet.com for more information.
