In Russia, the development of the "animal-like" combat robot "Lynx" is currently continuing. The head enterprise on this topic is VNII "Signal" from the city of Kovrov. Thanks to gurkhan.blogspot.ru, today for the first time you can see what the Lynx biomorphic combat robot looks like.
According to the data that received publicity during the execution of the public procurement, it became known that the "Lynx" will have 6 options of functional execution at once:
-Robot of reconnaissance and observation;
-Robot fire support of units;
-Robot for reconnaissance and destruction of mine explosive devices;
-A robot for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield;
-Ammunition and equipment delivery robot;
-Engineering intelligence robot.
The biomorphic robot includes an onboard information and control system, motion control equipment, vision equipment, equipment for transmitting data and control commands, navigation and orientation equipment, reconnaissance and surveillance equipment, beacon tracking equipment, a software package, as well as a target load determined functional purpose.
"Lynx" should move in the conditions of urban infrastructure on concrete, asphalt, marble, wooden and unpaved sites and sites with a sandy surface up to 100 mm deep; on rough and rugged terrain, in icy conditions, on fallen leaves, on grass up to 1 m high, snow up to 400 mm deep, in rain, on water-flooded surfaces up to 400 mm deep; on mountainous terrain and destroyed urban infrastructure, at industrial enterprises, in industrial and residential premises, overcoming thresholds up to 500 mm high, stair flights with an angle of inclination of up to 30 ° and a step height of up to 200 mm, ditches up to half a meter wide, walls up to 400 mm high and up to 300 mm wide.
In this case, stable movement will be ensured by maintaining the initial position of the platform. The "Lynx" will unfold on a patch of no more than a meter. It is planned that the robot will have to withstand the recoil of the weapons placed on it: machine gun of 7, 62mm PKT caliber, missiles, RPG, RShG, as well as withstand other external force effects, for example, blows or attempts to knock it on its side.
Of the interesting features is the provision of movement on a surface with a low bearing capacity of the soil: sandy loam, saturated with moisture, swampy areas. Like a real animal, "Lynx" can lie down and get up on command. Can follow a guide (beacon). In general, in addition to following "on a leash", manual remote control is provided, semi-autonomous, as well as completely autonomous existence, in which, thanks to artificial intelligence, "Lynx" itself will plan the optimal route.
In many ways, the Russian biomorphic robot is similar to its American counterpart - the BigDog robot, developed by Boston Dynamics in conjunction with Foster-Miller with money allocated by DARPA.
However, the American "doggie", in spite of its priority, turned out to be smaller and lighter than the Russian one. Its capabilities, both in movement and in load, are much more modest than the Lynx. The most he was capable of was carrying equipment and conducting surveillance. The tasks of combat use were not set there initially. All that the designers from Boston Dynamics managed to achieve was to enable the robot to walk on an icy surface and restore balance after a side impact.
At the end of November 2015, the company announced that it would cease further development work on BigDog. Two main reasons were named: the limited capabilities of the robot and too loud unmasking noise, which the developers could not cope with. As a result, the company switched to the Spot robot, a smaller version of the BigDog that runs on a quiet electric motor and is claimed to be more agile. However, "Lynx" will also have a "little brother". The experimental design work, along with the creation of a biomorphic platform with a total carrying capacity of 400 kg, also provides for the creation of a smaller-sized sample, weighing 100 kg. The co-executor of the work is the Android Technics company, which directly designs the platform framework. It is planned that both biomorphic robots, large and small, will enter government trials in the first half of 2019.
