Showing posts with label DARPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DARPA. Show all posts

2012-09-13

DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (LS3)

LS3 - Legged Squad Support System - YouTube

The Legged Squad Support System (LS3) is a rough-terrain robot developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. It is designed to carry 400 lbs of payload and travel 20 miles without refueling. LS3 has sensors that let it follow a human leader while avoiding obstacles in the terrain. For more information visit www.BostonDynamics.com.



Legged Squad Support System (LS3)

LS3 seeks to demonstrate that a highly mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot can carry 400 lbs of a squad’s load, follow squad members through rugged terrain and interact with troops in a natural way, similar to a trained animal and its handler.

The LS3 program goal is to develop a robot that will go through the same terrain the squad goes through without hindering the squad’s mission. The robot could also serve as a mobile auxiliary power source to the squad, so troops can recharge batteries for radios and handheld devices while on patrol.


Related Programs



Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move.

Boston Dynamics builds advanced robots with remarkable behavior: mobility, agility, dexterity and speed. We use sensor-based controls and computation to unlock the capabilities of complex mechanisms. Our world-class development teams take projects from initial concept to proof-of-principle prototyping to build-test-build engineering, to field testing and low-rate production.


Boston Dynamics has assembled an extraordinary team to develop the LS3, including engineers and scientists from Boston Dynamics, Bell Helicopter, AAI Corporation, Carnegie Mellon, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Woodward HRT.

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2011-11-15

FastRunner DARPA's Ostrich-Inspired Robot

DARPA Apparently Wants an Ostrich Robot | Geekosystem


Ostriches are famous the world over for being fast runners, and also some of the most evil, foul-tempered creatures on the planet. That speed has got the people at MIT and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition interested as they work to develop FastRunner, a bipedal ostrichbot capable of moving incredibly fast over land. As far as the ill-tempered nature of the robot’s natural analog, that might perk some interest at DARPA, who are apparently fostering the bot’s development.

Video: Darpa’s Robo-Ostrich Will Outrun Usain Bolt | Danger Room | Wired.com

Today’s robots move about as fast as your grandma’s morning mall-walking group. Tomorrow’s robots will move as fast as Usain Bolt — all thanks to limbs modeled on ostrich legs.

That’s exactly the point, according to the Darpa-funded researchers behind a collaborative effort underway at MIT and the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Only one year into a four-year research contract, the team is showing off stunning results that are expected to produce the fastest, most agile ‘bot ever. He’s called FastRunner, and he’ll zip along at 10 times the speed of a standard mobile robot, which clocks a mere 3 miles per hour.


FastRunner: DARPA’s Metal Gear?

FastRunner concept (left), fictitious Metal Gear Mk.II (right)

Recently Dr. Russ Tedrake (MIT) gave a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University where he presented preliminary work on an exciting new robot project that, conceptually speaking, looks quite a bit like the robots from Konami’s hit video game franchise.  It’s being developed by Tedrake’s team at MIT alongside that of Dr. Jerry Pratt (IHMC) who cut his teeth on the Spring Flamingo at the MIT Leg Lab.




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2011-08-12

Hypersonic Falcon Launched and Lost

Falcon HTV-2 is lost during bid to become fastest ever plane | World news | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/11/fastest-ever-plane-lost-during-test-flight
  • US military officials have lost contact with the fastest plane ever built during a hypersonic test flight over the Pacific on Thursday.
    The Falcon HTV-2 was launched aboard a rocket from Vandenberg air force base in California, on what at first appeared to be a flawless mission.
    But after separating from the rocket at the edge of space and beginning its return to Earth, the aircraft went silent during the gliding stage of the test flight, when it was due to perform a series of manoeuvres as it hurtled through the atmosphere.
DARPA's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV 2) Test Flight Profile - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5QHDV6S3jc&feature=player_embedded

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/TTO/Programs/Falcon_HTV-2.aspx

  • Falcon HTV-2 is an unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glides through the Earth’s atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds—Mach 20 (approximately 13,000 miles per hour).  At HTV-2 speeds, flight time between New York City and Los Angeles would be less than 12 minutes. The HTV-2 vehicle is a “data truck” with numerous sensors that collect data in an uncertain operating envelope.
     Mastery of three key technical challenges stands between the DoD and long-duration hypersonic flight: Aerodynamics; Aerothermal effects; and critical guidance, navigation and control.
     HTV-2 flew its maiden flight on 22 Apr 2010, collecting nine minutes of unique flight data, including 139 seconds of Mach 22 to Mach 17 aerodynamic data.
  • The second and final planned flight test is scheduled for August 2011. First flight lessons learned, high-speed wind tunnel testing and computer simulations were used to improve aerodynamic models and to optimize the vehicle design and trajectory for flight two.

    The goal of the second flight is to validate current assumptions and increase technical understanding of the hypersonic flight regime. More than 20 test assets will collect continuous flight data to achieve this goal.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2011/2011/08/11DARPA_HYPERSONIC_VEHICLE_ADVANCES_TECHNICAL_KNOWLEDGE.aspx

  • The second test flight began with launch at 0745 Pacific Time.  The Minotaur IV vehicle successfully inserted the aircraft into the desired trajectory.  Separation of the vehicle was confirmed by rocket cam and the aircraft transitioned to Mach 20 aerodynamic flight.  This transition represents a critical knowledge and control point in maneuvering atmospheric hypersonic flight.  More than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal.  Initial indications are that the aircraft impacted the Pacific Ocean along the planned flight path.
  • “Prior to flight, the technical team completed the most sophisticated simulations and extensive wind tunnel tests possible.  But these ground tests have not yielded the necessary knowledge.  Filling the gaps in our understanding of hypersonic flight in this demanding regime requires that we be willing to fly,” said DARPA Director Regina Dugan. “In the April 2010 test, we obtained four times the amount of data previously available at these speeds.  Today more than 20 air, land, sea and space data collection systems were operational.  We’ll learn. We’ll try again. That’s what it takes.”

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2010-10-31

CSAR DiscRotor -- DARPA/Boeing Retractable-Blade Helicopter

Boeing Develops Helicopter-Airplane Hybrid for DARPA



As part of a DARPA initiative, Boeing is developing a search-and-rescue aircraft that combines a helicopter's hovering capabilities with an airplane's long flight range. According to Aviation Week, Boeing will test a 20-percent scale model of the disc-rotor aircraft, called the CSAR DiscRotor, in a wind tunnel sometime next year.


The aircraft takes off vertically like a helicopter, with telescoping rotor blades extended, then converts to fixed-wing forward flight by retrating the blades into the disc, which is then stopped. The aircraft the flies on its swept wing and dual ducted propellers.



DARPA - Tactical Technology Office (TTO)



The goal of the DiscRotor Compound Helicopter program is to design and demonstrate the enabling technologies required to develop a new type of compound helicopter capable of high-efficiency hover, high-speed flight, and seamless transition between these flight states.
[...]
An aircraft capable of long range high speed (300-400 kts) and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)/hover will satisfy an ongoing military interest, bridging the gap in helicopter escort and insertion missions by providing survivability, mobility, and responsiveness for troop and cargo insertion.


High-Speed VTOL Goes for a Spin


Developing a mechanism that will reliability and repeatably retract and extend the blades under flight loads (including centripetal forces) is the central technical challenge of the DiscRotor program,


The DiscRotor has an integrated propulsion system using two turboshaft engines fitted with fans so they can also generate forward thrust. Shaft power goes to the main gearbox to power the rotor and a pair of wing-mounted, cross-shafted ducted propellers that provide the majority of the thrust in fixed-wing mode.




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2010-05-11

Lockheed Falcon HTV-2 Test Flight

Update 2011-08-12: See also  Hypersonic Falcon Launched and Lost

Lockheed Falcon unmanned aircraft

Computer animation of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' hypersonic cruise vehicle for DARPA Falcon programme



DARPA Falcon Project

The DARPA Falcon Project (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) is a two-part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF).


The program was to follow a set of flight tests with a series of hypersonic technology vehicles.[8]

The FALCON project includes:
  • X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) — a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs.
  • Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) — a test concept, originally planned to fly in September 2007, now canceled.[9]
  • HTV-2 — first flew on 22 April 2010, but contact was lost soon afterwards[10][11]
  • HTV-3X — Blackswift, now canceled
  • Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) — a smaller engine to power CAVs, now complete
Illustration of HTV-2 reentry phase





DARPA Falcon hypersonic X-plane - part 1




DARPA Falcon hypersonic X-plane - part 2






Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (HTV-2)

The Falcon program objectives are to develop and demonstrate hypersonic technologies that will enable prompt global reach missions. The technologies include high lift-to-drag techniques, high temperature materials, precision navigation, guidance, and control, communications through plasma, and an autonomous flight safety system. Leveraging technology developed under the Hypersonic Flight (HyFly) program, Falcon will address the implications of hypersonic flight and reusability using a series of hypersonic technology vehicles (HTVs) to incrementally demonstrate these required technologies in flight. The HTV-2 program will demonstrate enabling hypersonic technologies for future operational systems through rocket-boosted hypersonic flights with sufficient cross-range and down-range performance to evaluate thermal protection systems, aerodynamic shapes, maneuverability, and long-range communication for hypersonic cruise and re-entry vehicle applications.


Pentagon’s Mach 20 Glider Disappears, Whacking ‘Global Strike’ Plans


The Pentagon’s controversial plan to hit terrorists half a planet away suffered a setback this weekend, after an experimental hypersonic glider disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.


Update Aug 12 2001: See also


FOX News.com

Military's Hypersonic Falcon Missile Test a Dud?

The test vehicle launched last week reached Mach 5 on launch, and was designed to crash and sink into the sea and sink near Kwajalein Atoll, 2,000 miles south-west of Hawaii, 30 minutes later and 4,000 miles from the launch site.

But in a statement released Friday night, DARPA said that while “the launch vehicle executed first-of-its-kind energy management maneuvers, clamshell payload fairing release and HTV-2 deployment,” all wasn't perfect with the superfast craft. “Approximately 9 minutes into the mission, telemetry assets experienced a loss of signal from the HTV-2. An engineering team is reviewing available data to understand this event.”

The DARPA press release did not specify whether any of the test maneuvers were completed by the Lockheed Martin built craft before controllers lost communications with the craft, the site adds.



Uncovered by the incomparable flateric on secretprojects.co.uk, this graphic from a December presentation by DARPA Tactical Technology Office director David Nyland suggests contact with the HTV-2 (on the yellow Mission A line) was lost somewhere between beginning reentry and starting its hypersonic glide.


Investigation of the telemetry failure is under way. But the question now is what this means for the second HTV-2 flight (red Mission B line above). This is intended to demonstrate the cross-range capability provided by the vehicle's hypersonic aerodynamic efficiency - and key to a prompt global strike weapon - involving sustained maneuvers beyond the simple S-turns planned for the first flight. It's more likely the second flight will have to be a repeat of the first.


Sources:
  1. YouTube - Lockheed Falcon unmanned aircraft
  2. DARPA Falcon Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. File:Speed is Life HTV-2 Reentry New.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  4. PUB_HTV_Progression_DARPA_2008_lg.jpg (JPEG Image, 1125x844 pixels) - Scaled (67%)
  5. YouTube - DARPA Falcon hypersonic X-plane - part 1
  6. YouTube - DARPA Falcon hypersonic X-plane - part 2
  7. DARPA - Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
  8. Pentagon’s Mach 20 Glider Disappears, Whacking ‘Global Strike’ Plans | Danger Room | Wired.com
  9. FOXNews.com - Military's Hypersonic Falcon Missile Test a Dud?
  10. DARPA's HTV-2 Didn't Phone Home

Related:
  1. Hypersonic Test Vehicle Falcon goes missing on test flight, DARPA admits
  2. Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | New Minotaur rocket launches on suborbital flight
  3. AFP: US hypersonic glider flunks first test flight
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2010-02-11

Boston Dynamics' Bigger BigDog: LS3 - Legged Squad Support Systems

Clipped from: IEEE Spectrum: Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)

Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)

A bigger BigDog is coming.

Boston Dynamics, developer of BigDog and PETMAN, announced today that it has won a Darpa contract to develop a new robot mule to help soldiers on foot carry gear in the field.

The robot, called Legged Squad Support System, or LS3, will be able to navigate rough terrain, carrying 180 kilograms (~400 pounds) of load and enough fuel for missions covering 32 kilometers (~20 miles) and lasting 24 hours.


Clipped from: YouTube - Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)

Boston Dynamics Big Dog



Clipped from: Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move.

LS3 - Legged Squad Support Systems



LS3 is a dynamic robot designed to go anywhere Soldiers and Marines go on foot. Each LS3 will carry up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for missions covering 20 miles and lasting 24 hours. LS3 will not need a driver, because it will automatically follow a leader using computer vision or travel to designated locations using sensing and GPS. The development of LS3 will take 30 months, with first walk out scheduled for 2012. The development of LS3 is being funded by DARPA and the US Marine Corps.


Clipped from: DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program
MILTECH

DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program


Following this initial LS3 design and build phase, DARPA and the Marine Corps will review the results and determine future program phases that may lead to full LS3 integration and experimentation with operational platforms.


 
The program is a joint effort between DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO) and the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). The program goal is to develop a walking quadruped platform that will augment squads by carrying traditional and new equipment autonomously.

These platforms will be capable of managing complex terrain where tactical vehicles are not able to go-lightening the load of Marines and Soldiers and increasing their combat capability.


Clipped from: DARPA Develops 4-Legged Robot to Haul Equipment Over Rugged Terrain

Key characteristics of the LS3 program include:
  • Quadruped platform development: a deployable walking platform with sufficient payload capacity, range, endurance, and low noise signature for dismounted squad support, while keeping weight and volume scaled to the squad level.
  • Walking control: control techniques that allow walking, trotting, and running/ bounding and capabilities to jump obstacles, cross ditches, recover from disturbances, and other discrete mobility features.
  • User interface (to include perception technologies): the ability for the robot to perceive and traverse its immediate terrain environment autonomously with simple methods of control.


Sources:
  1. IEEE Spectrum: Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)
  2. YouTube - Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)
  3. Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move.
  4. DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program
  5. DARPA Develops 4-Legged Robot to Haul Equipment Over Rugged Terrain
Related:
  1. DARPA - Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
  2. Robot Pack Mule to Carry Loads for G.I.s on the Move: Scientific American
  3. Legged Squad Support System Monster BigDog Robot: Science Fiction in the News
  4. BigDog Is Going to War - ls3 - Gizmodo
  5. Legged Squad Support System (LS3) - DARPA-BAA-08-71 (Archived) - Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities
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2009-09-25

Programmable Matter

clipped from www.dailygalaxy.com

Mutating Matter: New Technology Creates “Soft” Robots Can Flow Through a Crack or Under a Door! A Galaxy Classic

Terminator2.morph
Like something out of Terminator 2, researchers are developing techniques for warfare of the future to create materials that self-assemble or alter their shape, perform a function and then disassemble themselves. These capabilities offer the possibility for morphing aircraft and ground vehicles, uniforms that can alter themselves in any climate, and “soft” robots that flow like mercury through small openings to enter caves and bunker complexes.

A revolutionary new technology in being developed by DARPA that may allow future war leaders to command their equipment to physically change itself to meet new operational needs or to form spare parts or tools.


blog it
clipped from en.wikipedia.org
Programmable matter

Programmable matter refers to matter which has the ability to change its physical properties (shape, density, moduli, optical properties, etc.) in a programmable fashion, based upon user input or autonomous sensing. Programmable matter is thus linked to the concept of a material which inherently has the ability to perform information processing.

clipped from www.youtube.com

cnn - intel "programmable matter"

Researchers are working on matter that will morph into different shapes, depending on your needs.
clipped from www.afcea.org
Programmable Matter Research Solidifies
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a technology that will allow future military equipment to change shape on command. Several university teams are working on different approaches to create "programmable matter"—made of individual pieces that can self-assemble into tools or spare parts. One of the approaches being examined uses sheets of self-folding material that can form three-dimensional shapes on command.

blog it


clipped from www.afcea.org
One of the key challenges of DARPA’s Programmable Matter program is to get the individual pieces, ranging in size from 100 micrometers to one centimeter, to stick together to form an effective tool. One of the program’s research teams has developed a way to both program and coat objects with DNA. The DNA strands act as a "molecular Velcro" to hold small objects together to assemble into a tool. After it is used, the DNA can be commanded to release and disassemble the object.
clipped from www.darpa.mil
Defense Sciences Office
DSO logo
Programmable Matter

Programmable Matter LogoThe goal of Programmable Matter Program is to demonstrate a new functional form of matter, based on mesoscale particles, which can reversibly assemble into complex 3D objects upon external command. These 3D objects will exhibit all the functionality of their conventional counterparts.

clipped from www.youtube.com

claytronics

clipped from www.youtube.com

Claytronics Trumpet

A demonstration of the Claytronics project at Carnegie Mellon University. This video shows the result of a Meld program, with 1M claytronics atoms forming into a trumpet.
clipped from www.youtube.com
Nanomanufacturing

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Sources:
  1. Mutating Matter: New Technology Creates “Soft” Robots Can Flow Through a Crack or Under a Door! A Galaxy Classic
  2. Programmable matter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. YouTube - cnn - intel "programmable matter"
  4. Programmable Matter Research Solidifies - SIGNAL Magazine
  5. Defense Sciences Office - Programmable Matter
  6. YouTube - claytronics
  7. YouTube - Claytronics Trumpet
  8. YouTube - Nanomanufacturing (Productive Nano Systems)
Related:
  1. Universal ‘Rubik’s Cube’ Could Become Pentagon Shapeshifter | Danger Room | Wired.com
  2. DARPA Wants a Shapeshifter | Danger Room | Wired.com
  3. DARPA's programmable matter initiative strives to make the ultimate Swiss Army knife
  4. DARPA Makes Progress with Programmable Matter - PSFK
  5. DARPA Passes Key Programmable Matter Milestone : CleanTechnica
  6. Intel teases shape-shifting programmable matter | Tech News on ZDNet
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2008-10-17

The DARPA Submersible Aircraft


The DARPA Submersible Aircraft research project is focused on making a a vehicle that can fly in the air and dive straight into the water, becoming a submarine.
Network World

Researchers want a submersible airplane

This sounds like something straight out of a James Bond movie but no, it's real and it's your government: Those way out engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) want to build an aircraft that's as capable of zipping through the sky as it is underwater.

clipped from www.fbo.gov

Submersible Aircraft

Solicitation Number: DARPA-BAA-09-06
Agency: Other Defense Agencies
Office: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Location: Contracts Management Office

Interestingly there was a patent issued in 2007 to Gennady Ploshkin, for a disc-shaped aircraft that could take off like a helicopter and submerge like a sub. There have been other sub-plane designs as well. Probably the most famous flying sub was in the TV show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

clipped from www.vttbots.com
Link through for more of Thomas7g's Flying Sub images.
clipped from www.vttbots.com
Ready for take-off.
Flying Sub at work
clipped from uk.youtube.com

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Flying Sub for FS 2004Pt II

clipped from uk.youtube.com

Underwater Video RC Submarine - Flying Submarine


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Related:
Researchers want a submersible airplane | NetworkWorld.com Community
Submersible Aircraft - Federal Business Opportunities
Flying Sub Links Page.
DARPA Submersible Aircraft - Flying Sub?: Science Fiction in the News
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Gallery
Crazy Ideas: DARPA Working on a Submersible Aircraft That Can Go From Air to Sea
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