HARV Brings Human Telepresence To Robot Battlefields
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 11 of February , 2008 at 3:02 am
The whole point of robots is that they’re not human. When it comes to military ops, the upside of not being human is that robots can get blown up and it’s not such a big deal. The downside (and it’s a big downside) is that robots aren’t yet ready to make their own decisions in battle, meaning humans have to be in the loop somewhere. Chatten Associates has created a camera system designed to provide robot operators with a real telepresence; that is, feeling as though they’re in the robot’s shoes treads. The HARV (Head-Aimed Remote Viewer) system combines a gimbal mounted remote video system on the robot with gyro equipped VR goggles for the user; wherever you move your head, that’s where the camera looks. The HARV can improve mission performance by 300% – 400%, and includes a 36:1 optical zoom, night vision camera, laser target designators, stereo audio, and a price of only $40,000. The following video shows the HARV being demoed on a few different platforms, including a MAARS battlebot armed with a paintball gun (cool!):
Currently set for delivery to the military in March is an updated HARV system, with a higher resolution thermal imager and a laser rangefinder, able to geolocate targets up to 2km away. Next step? How about something for, say, UAVs? Brilliant idea! We’ll just have to arrange some way of stealing it from the Canadians… Video after the jump.
[ Chatten Associates HARV ] VIA [ Crave ]
Comments (1)
Category: Military
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Comment by Sale
Made Monday, 11 of February , 2008 at 1:24 pm
That video link works like a dream. I’d love to hear more information on the specifics of the link.
-Sale
sale@lootajapompeli.com