BEAR Robot Can Lift 500 Pounds, Has Cute Ears
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 21 of August , 2009 at 12:01 am
BEAR stands for Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot. Developed by Vecna Robotics, BEAR is a humanoid torso on tank treads designed to bring mobile heavy lifting capabilities to military, search and rescue, and industrial applications. BEAR’s two arms can lift 500 pounds between them, and it’s capable of dynamically balancing on its unfoldable tracked “legs.”
BEAR can lift so much thanks to its GINORMOUS hydraulic backpack, which is conspicuously absent from the animated robots in the video below… I’m not sure how Vecna ultimately plans to stuff so much lifting power into such a small space, but if they can pull it off, they’ll have an extremely capable and versatile robot that would be able to easily adapt to become useful in a variety of different situations. I’m sure it won’t be cheap, but it’ll definitely be handy.
There’s certainly a lot of potential here, and it’s interesting to note how battlefield robots seem to be diverging from medium-sized PackBots and such to things that are larger and more powerful (like the Warrior) and things that are smaller (like the EyeDrive). Why the specialization? If I had to guess, I’d say that if you’re going to commit to the cost and associated infrastructure that even a medium-sized robot requires, you might as well get something big and mean. Otherwise, you just want something cheap that anyone can carry around and operate when necessary. BEAR is decidedly in the former category, and I bet it would be even better than the Warrior at tossing PackBots through windows.
Thanks Andy!
Comments (3)
Category: Androids, Industrial, Military
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Comment by Farle
Made Friday, 21 of August , 2009 at 4:35 pm
This is what I expected when they started releasing military style robots, forget packbot and the other remote control cars.
Although the way they drove it and the way it sounds make it seem very un-rugged. But perhaps this style of device will pave the way for telepresence soldier squads who go out on patrol in dangerous areas while their squishing human controllers get to sit in base controlling them?
Comment by Rebirth
Made Sunday, 23 of August , 2009 at 12:41 am
hmmm looks and akts kinda like Jhonny5 from Short Cirsiut
Comment by bob
Made Monday, 28 of September , 2009 at 8:23 pm
they need a speaker on it so it can say O YEA! for the pic wen it busts threw the door.
