Don’t Worry, Robots Now Guarding Nukes In Nevada
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 5 of October , 2010 at 12:57 am
When you have a 1,360 square mile military facility that needs patrolling, robots are the way to go, or at least that’s the position starting to be adopted by the US Army. Why? Simple: using mobile robots instead of permanent infrastructure (like fixed cameras and motion detectors) saves $6 million in up-front costs plus an additional $1 million a year in maintenance.
The robots being used at the Hawthorne Army Depot (which stores tens of millions of cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste) are somewhat unsexily called MDARS (Mobile Detection Assessment Response Systems). They’re diesel powered, with a top speed of 20 mph, and they can stay on duty for 16 hours. Most of the time, MDARS do random fully autonomous patrols, using RFID tags to check the status of locks and gates. If they notice something out of the ordinary, a human can take over, using cameras, microphones, and speakers to interact with whatever needs interacting with. The bots are currently unarmed, so short of running someone over they can’t do much more than observe, although they are certainly capable of mounting remote controlled weapons.
[ NNSA Press Release ] VIA [ Danger Room ]
Comments (8)
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Comment by Zool
Made Tuesday, 5 of October , 2010 at 3:08 am
I find it remarkable that the 2nd DARPA Grand Challenge (the 1st one where they finished) was only 5 years ago, yet now we have practical fully autonomous robots patrols around a 1,360 square mile military facility!!! … Wow! … that is some seriously impressive progress from highly experimental to practical in just 5 years!
Comment by Bunedoggle
Made Tuesday, 5 of October , 2010 at 9:59 am
So does this thing have thermal cameras? Radar? Or can I hide behind a bush then jump out and sit on the back and have it take me on a tour of all the top secret places in the facility?
Seems like it’s only looking forward.
Comment by Joey1058
Made Wednesday, 6 of October , 2010 at 2:04 pm
While it’s impressive, the real test is when you have armored Hummers going on patrol in Afghanistan with laser mounted guns. Pretty soon all the taliban will be able to do is pull their fellow citizens out of their homes in the middle of the night and shoot them in the head.
Wait, they do that now….
Comment by Kamu
Made Thursday, 14 of October , 2010 at 5:59 am
That’s cool. Too bad the control terminal looks like it is from the 70s.
Comment by quantum_flux
Made Sunday, 17 of October , 2010 at 2:28 pm
I guess robots are more capable of reporting UFO’s than armed gaurds are.
Comment by Wade Willson
Made Monday, 18 of July , 2011 at 6:01 am
Nice! I feel safe knowing people will have a harder time getting through.
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Made Monday, 21 of November , 2011 at 5:16 pm
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Comment by Cell Phone Accessories
Made Tuesday, 22 of November , 2011 at 12:54 pm
I saw this really great post today.
