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Two points of clarification on this technology. Its current intended military application is to carry equipment. Ammunition, spare parts, weapons, food and the

Two points of clarification on this technology. Its current intended military application is to carry equipment. Ammunition, spare parts, weapons, food and the like. Many US Army soldiers carry 70-80 lbs of gear into combat. The idea is to lighten that load by having machines carry some of it, in order to save lives and shorten conflicts. Wheeled vehicles don't work on a lot of terrain types, hence robot dogs. Robots don't feel pain or a sense of injustice when you kick them. It's no different than kicking a washing machine or a car tire. It looks like an animal out of necessity, to be able to follow humans while walking over uneven ground. But it's just a device. If it can't take a few kicks how can it be counted on to climb a hill or navigate a jungle? Somewhere out there, a 19 year old kid is about to carry 80 pounds of gear on a 10 mile march in order to be shot at upon reaching his destination. The only thing he cares about is living to see tomorrow's sunrise. Kick the hell out of the damn robots.

Wohlf 12y ago
I don't really get feeling bad about kicking the robot, must just be that it looks so much like an animal. Speaking from military experience I can say being able to kick it out of the way is extremely useful, it may be between me and the closest cover from enemy fire, or it might be about to step on a mine or IED. Looks very promising, hopefully future versions can come with built in light armor. That would be a dream come true for many grunts out there, letting a robot carry your extra supplies and also provide cover from small arms and shrapnel.
- patrickyeon 12y ago
  I don't have the stories handy, but there are records of military units getting emotionally attached to their bomb disposal robots. For example, some units have held funerals for the robots that are rendered non-operational, and some soldiers have even gone to the extreme of risking their own life to "rescue" "injured" service robots. It shouldn't need to be said, but this is the exact opposite of what the robots should be doing (reducing risk to their operators). Kick the damn things all you want. Normalize it so that nobody does something stupid trying to protect a machine.
csomar 12y ago
Is it about feelings, or being a device? Because humans (or animals for that matter) are also devices. They just happen to be a lot more complicated.
jessriedel 12y ago
> Many US Army soldiers carry 70-80 lbs of gear into combat. The idea is to lighten that load by having machines carry some of it, in order to save lives and shorten conflicts. Minor correction: from talking with folks at the Naval Research Lab, it sounds like soldiers empirically will respond to lighter loads by packing in more until they hit the target weight (more batteries, more ammo, more armor, etc.). Of course, this is just good evidence that they value the effectively higher capacity even more than they would less weight.

Wohlf 12y ago

I don't really get feeling bad about kicking the robot, must just be that it looks so much like an animal. Speaking from military experience I can say being able to kick it out of the way is extremely useful, it may be between me and the closest cover from enemy fire, or it might be about to step on a mine or IED. Looks very promising, hopefully future versions can come with built in light armor. That would be a dream come true for many grunts out there, letting a robot carry your extra supplies and also provide cover from small arms and shrapnel.

patrickyeon 12y ago
I don't have the stories handy, but there are records of military units getting emotionally attached to their bomb disposal robots. For example, some units have held funerals for the robots that are rendered non-operational, and some soldiers have even gone to the extreme of risking their own life to "rescue" "injured" service robots. It shouldn't need to be said, but this is the exact opposite of what the robots should be doing (reducing risk to their operators). Kick the damn things all you want. Normalize it so that nobody does something stupid trying to protect a machine.

csomar 12y ago

Is it about feelings, or being a device? Because humans (or animals for that matter) are also devices. They just happen to be a lot more complicated.

jessriedel 12y ago

> Many US Army soldiers carry 70-80 lbs of gear into combat. The idea is to lighten that load by having machines carry some of it, in order to save lives and shorten conflicts. Minor correction: from talking with folks at the Naval Research Lab, it sounds like soldiers empirically will respond to lighter loads by packing in more until they hit the target weight (more batteries, more ammo, more armor, etc.). Of course, this is just good evidence that they value the effectively higher capacity even more than they would less weight.