Boston Dynamics Big Dog and other military transport robots

us.yahoo.com

Killer Robots Aren't Science Fiction. A Push to Ban Them is Growing.

It may have seemed like an obscure United Nations conclave, but a meeting this week in Geneva was followed intently by experts in artificial intelligence, military strategy, disarmament and humanitarian law. The reason for the interest? Killer robots — drones, guns and bombs that decide on their...
us.yahoo.com us.yahoo.com
 
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RPG is a good idea for a weapon. I don't think with the clumsiness and poor situation awareness robots today, they can be all too effective in small arms fighting. (though one may not care if casualties reduction is the point)

As an ambush weapon with massive lethality on the first attack, against huge targets with even worst mobility and even worst situation awareness? Great! A lot less tactical mobility needed, and a lot less bandwidth needed for success.
 
Dilandu said:
Guys, the robo-dog with RPG was essentially just a demonstration for the entertainment of expo guest
Click to expand...
Mickey Mouse ops director told journos different things though
ria.ru

На "Армии-2022" представили умеющего стрелять робота-собаку

Российские конструкторы представили образец роботизированного комплекса М-81, способного вести прицельную стрельбу и транспортировать оружие, на форуме... РИА Новости, 15.08.2022
ria.ru ria.ru
ren.tv

Роботы и "красный гигант" удивили гостей форума "Армия-2022"

На форуме представлены новейшие разработки российских инженеров
ren.tv ren.tv
 
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AirMobile warfare

Really though, RPG would be better, air insert the rear line and sneak up to a point overwatching a road and go into standby mode, assuming the robot platform is more stealthy than a multicopter have significant range and useful autonomous navigation capability.

Though a much simpler air deployed off route/wide area mine can do quite a lot already. Just look at the convoy protection problems when airspace can not be fully sanitized....
 
shin_getter said:
View attachment 682751View attachment 682752View attachment 682753
AirMobile warfare

Really though, RPG would be better, air insert the rear line and sneak up to a point overwatching a road and go into standby mode, assuming the robot platform is more stealthy than a multicopter have significant range and useful autonomous navigation capability.

Though a much simpler air deployed off route/wide area mine can do quite a lot already. Just look at the convoy protection problems when airspace can not be fully sanitized....
Click to expand...

No, it would be worse in every regard, unless the "RPG" were a flamethrower like an RPO or FLASH.

Armed robots are glorified machine gun nests so a machine gun makes sense. It saves a man from needing to haul a pikmin into a position. This is how they are actually used in combat. The robot dog is just an alternative to tracked carriers that can climb up stairs and be used indoors instead of spraying a house from the outside with 7.62x54mmR.

An RPG can already be mounted on a tripod or on a tree and the Germans have a specific mine based on the Pzf 3 rocket launcher.

More importantly, there's no reason an ambush needs to be conducted with robots necessarily. By definition a successful ambush has surprise: the attackers would rather use robots as flank protection instead against counter-ambushers. Thus the robot is for reconnaissance/vanguard duties, where the initiative is against the attacker, because you might walk into an ambush or be attacked by flanking light infantry.

Machine guns are the most commonsensical armament for any robotic weapon in general, unless it's intended to fight armored vehicles explicitly or something, in which case it would be a robot tank the size of a Bradley or something like RCV-H. Flamethrowers are second. This isn't very hard to figure out though. Machine guns are most lethal defending (aside from mortars and possibly automatic grenade launchers) and rocket launchers/grenade projectors are most lethal attacking. Something smaller than a human being isn't carrying a useful quantity of anti-tank missiles but can carry a useful quantity of machine gun ammunition.
 
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The Thermonator is the first-ever flamethrowing quadruped robot dog. This quadruped is equipped with the ARC Flamethrower to create your ultimate firepower companion.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh92JL0EBlo

throwflame.com

Thermonator

Thermonator is the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog. This quadruped is coupled with the ARC Flamethrower to deliver on-demand fire anywhere
throwflame.com throwflame.com
https://twitter.com/x/status/1672163267479781383
View: https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1672163267479781383
 
bigvlada said:
AeroFranz said:
Alas, what these robots need is an energetically dense fuel.
Solar irradiance is something like 1000 W/m^2 at sea level. A good, encapsulated, hardened (not lab experiment) solar cell may be 20% efficient. So you're left with 200 W/m^2 on a sunny day when the sun is overhead, less before and after. Then you have to somehow store it (and lose some in the electrochemical process), actually store enough that it will last through the night as well if need be. That's a lot of m^2 of solar cells that are needed to get enough Watts to move the mass of a robot carrying stuff.

OTOH, most hydrocarbon fuels are around 128,000 BTUs/gal...
Click to expand...

hmm, how about some hypergolic rocket fuel then? Aerozine 50?
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Problem there is toxicity. Hydrazine is nastily toxic stuff. The only good I can say for it is that it's not radioactive, but I'm sure people are working on that.
 
shin_getter said:
- So what do you think will be the first killer app/functionality for military legged robots?
- What kind of concept of operation would work best?
- What performance characteristic combination would define a useful robot? (range, terrain crossing, speed, autonomy, payload, stealth, etc)
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I see the initial functionality as the pack mule for an infantry squad. There's just so much crap they need to haul these days that having a pack mule is almost necessary. Secondary use will be medevac.

Critical characteristics in this are to be able to go anywhere the infantry can while carrying a good 500lbs of gear (~50lbs per soldier). Important secondary characteristics are
1) to make no more noise than the infantry do.
2) to be mostly autonomous, basically to the point of being able to follow any one of the troopers (having a small pinger for the bot to follow may be acceptable, if the pinger doesn't transmit very far).
3) For Medevac use, it will need to be able to go to GPS coordinates.
 
aonestudio said:
The Thermonator is the first-ever flamethrowing quadruped robot dog. This quadruped is equipped with the ARC Flamethrower to create your ultimate firepower companion.
Click to expand...
I could swear that was in an episode of Black Mirror.

'45 minutes' - is that really correct?
 
shin_getter said:
www.techspot.com

"Robot dogs" to join Ukraine's efforts in high-risk military missions

A four-legged drone known as "BAD One" has demonstrated its ability to assist human soldiers in the Russo-Ukrainian war. According to an AFP report, these "robot dogs"...
www.techspot.com www.techspot.com

seems British
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www.forbes.com

What We Know About Ukraine’s Army Of Robot Dogs

Ukraine is the first country to use quadruped robots in combat. Could they become the foot soldier's best friend?
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

Brit Alliance is a security firm, not a robot manufacturer, and clearly did not make the machines themselves. It did not take internet analysts long to identify the robots in Ukraine as being Chinse-made Unitree Go2 Pros, which might be seen as the legged equivalent of Chinese-made DJI quadcopters: efficient, high-spec machines easily available at low cost.
Click to expand...
 
Anyone who's read Fahrenheit 451 will remember the mechanical hound. I have a soft spot a mile wide for Clifford Simak's Cemetery World and that featured man-hunting 'steel wolves.' Illustrated here by John Schoenherr for Analog.
 

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