DARPA’s solution to the military’s plastic trash problem? Eat it.

DARPA’s solution to the military’s plastic trash problem? Eat it.

Post Views: 197 This is the goal of DARPA’s ReSource program, which is soon going to be moving onto its second phase. In the first phase, teams from Battelle (a private research company frequently contracted by the government), Iowa State University, MIT, and Michigan Technological University, alongside government partners, studied proofs-of-concept for such waste conversion….

Meet the ‘Spy Stone,’ a Russian robot disguised as a rock

Meet the ‘Spy Stone,’ a Russian robot disguised as a rock

Post Views: 114 Under lightly falling snow, a soldier sets a rock on the ground. A moment later the rock animates, extending first a periscope-like camera, and then lifting the whole of its rocky exterior to reveal a small set of tracks. With mobility now possible, the little robot wheels down the slight embankment of…

This gadget is helping French special forces nail their parachute landings

This gadget is helping French special forces nail their parachute landings

Post Views: 120 That’s the problem addressed by French special forces of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment, known as the 13th RDP, an army regiment entirely dedicated to gathering human intelligence from any theater in peacetime, wartime, or during other crises. Until recently, the 13th RDP paratroopers were using a ground-detecting system developed over 30…

Why Los Alamos lab is working on the tricky task of creating new plutonium coreswe

Post Views: 149 Inside a nuclear warhead, a plutonium pit is crucial to setting off the sequence of reactions that make a thermonuclear explosion. Inside the pit is a gas, like deuterium/tritium, and around the pit is chemical explosive. When the chemical explosive detonates, it compacts the plutonium around the gas until the core is…

The US Navy is testing out drone-zapping laser weapons

The US Navy is testing out drone-zapping laser weapons

Post Views: 142 To better understand modern directed-energy weapons, it’s important to take a step back from the science-fiction idea of a laser weapon. High-powered beams of light are expensive to develop and deploy, but they offer a kind of cost-savings once they are up and running. Provided a ship can generate the electrical power…

Why the Air Force wants to put lidar on robot dogs

Why the Air Force wants to put lidar on robot dogs

Post Views: 122 As he speaks, the video highlights the interior of a garage. The laser-constructed vision is surreal, almost unearthly, with objects visible not as whole forms but instead reflected lines adjacent to each other in space. The imaging tool is lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, and while the results are…

Military medics and mechanics may soon have access to a virtual help desk through AMIGOS

Military medics and mechanics may soon have access to a virtual help desk through AMIGOS

Post Views: 125 “Augmented reality, computer vision, language processing, dialogue processing and reasoning are all AI technologies that have disrupted a variety of industries individually but never in such a coordinated and synergistic fashion,” Charles Ortiz, the principal investigator for AMIGOS, said in a Xerox release, “By leveraging existing instructional materials to create new AR…

DARPA wants Space-BACN so satellite communication sizzles

DARPA wants Space-BACN so satellite communication sizzles

Post Views: 128 In the space between satellites, DARPA wants there to be a shared language. The Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) is a program designed to place satellites that can talk to other satellites in orbit, overcoming existing design barriers and adapting to the future. It’s the promise of robust infrastructure in space, capable…

India launched a torpedo from a missile. Here’s why.

India launched a torpedo from a missile. Here’s why.

Post Views: 98 That recent test began with a countdown and a roar of ignition, and then the torpedo-containing missile hurtled into the sky. Billowing a trail of smoke, the missile turned from vertical to horizontal, its ultimate destination far more aquatic than celestial. The weapon being tested was India’s Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of…