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PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

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Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#61

Post by metamemetics »

dschobel wrote: post #37

Serious question, is there anything driving mobile robotics research besides the defense dept? I spent my grad school time in a robotics lab and it always bummed me out that anytime you see something amazing like this it's invariable funded by a military research agency which can't wait to strap a gun to the damned thing. Same thing for computer vision, except it was all about surveillance.

A lot of cognitive science (especially AI related) and cog psychology is DoD related as well. For FY2010 60% of the US governments total R&D spending is military 40% non-military.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#62

Post by dschobel »

pgbovine wrote: post #59
dschobel wrote: post #37

Serious question, is there anything driving mobile robotics research besides the defense dept? I spent my grad school time in a robotics lab and it always bummed me out that anytime you see something amazing like this it's invariable funded by a military research agency which can't wait to strap a gun to the damned thing. Same thing for computer vision, except it was all about surveillance.

this doesn't answer your question at all, but it's just food for thought: imagine we traveled back in time to the 1960's ... i suppose that people would ask "Serious question, is there anything driving reliable robust nationwide packet-switched data network research besides the defense dept? it always bummed me out that anytime you see something amazing it's inevitably funded by military which can't wait to use it to…

Fair enough, but there's nothing overtly weaponizable about communication technology.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the money is there to advance the field, I just wish it wasn't coming from a bunch of dickheads trying to strap guns to it.

I guess since the conventional wisdoms says pornography is the biggest catalyst for new media adoption, it shouldn't be a surprise that killing people drives the other engineering fields forward.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#63

Post by starkfist »

dschobel wrote: post #62
pgbovine wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this doesn't answer your question at all, but it's just food for thought: imagine we traveled back in time to the 1960's ... i suppose that people would ask "Serious question, is there anything driving reliable robust nationwide packet-switched data network research besides the defense dept? it always bummed me out that anytime you see something amazing it's inevitably funded by military which can't wait to use it to…

Fair enough, but there's nothing overtly weaponizable about communication technology. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the money is there to advance the field, I just wish it wasn't coming from a bunch of dickheads trying to strap guns to it. I guess since the conventional wisdoms says pornography is the biggest catalyst for new media adoption, it shouldn't be a surprise that killing people drives the other engineeri…

You can also look at it from a different perspective:

The market is a much harsher master when it comes to fiscal accountability. Stuff doesn't get funded unless it's going to make money. Military spending is a magical well of infinite money with little accountability. You can think up any project you want and get money to do it so long as you say you're going to strap a gun on your robot, or that the decentralized communication network is really to help survive a nuke attack.

I used to work in bioinformatics and money from the typical funding sources was getting tight in the late 90s, early 00s. After 9/11, my department just recast every project as "terrorist bio-defense" and was financially refueled with defense money.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#64

Post by jerf »

dschobel wrote: post #62
pgbovine wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this doesn't answer your question at all, but it's just food for thought: imagine we traveled back in time to the 1960's ... i suppose that people would ask "Serious question, is there anything driving reliable robust nationwide packet-switched data network research besides the defense dept? it always bummed me out that anytime you see something amazing it's inevitably funded by military which can't wait to use it to…

Fair enough, but there's nothing overtly weaponizable about communication technology. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the money is there to advance the field, I just wish it wasn't coming from a bunch of dickheads trying to strap guns to it. I guess since the conventional wisdoms says pornography is the biggest catalyst for new media adoption, it shouldn't be a surprise that killing people drives the other engineeri…

"Fair enough, but there's nothing overtly weaponizable about communication technology."

Um, what? DARPA was funding it for a reason. How do you kill someone with a network packet? Quite simply. The packet contains "Hey, sarge, go here and kill those guys." Without modern communication you don't have a modern military.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#65

Post by jerf »

brown9-2 wrote: post #28
run4yourlives wrote: post #14

Holy. Crap. Imagine what could become of this research in 5-10 years of sustained development? God help the poor sucker that needs to deal with one of those things when coupled with less than benevolent intentions. Imagine five of these, armed and working together? Good bye urban combat, hello robotic assassins.

If the quadrotor helicopter gives you the willies, get a whiff of BIGDOG and his cousin LittleDog, which can accomodate rugged or unstable terrain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUQsRPJ1dYw

And what is on BigDog's back? A pack of six of these buggers and support infrastructure for them (larger battery, for instance, or a generator). Localized air surveillance and potentially semiautonomous to boot.

And I mention this because that's just the direct application of these two devices with no (significant) new research necessary.

While the news is flooding with doom and gloom (and with some justification), times are getting interesting real quicklike where few people are looking.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#66

Post by chancho »

starkfist wrote: post #63
dschobel wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough, but there's nothing overtly weaponizable about communication technology. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the money is there to advance the field, I just wish it wasn't coming from a bunch of dickheads trying to strap guns to it. I guess since the conventional wisdoms says pornography is the biggest catalyst for new media adoption, it shouldn't be a surprise that killing people drives the other engineeri…

You can also look at it from a different perspective: The market is a much harsher master when it comes to fiscal accountability. Stuff doesn't get funded unless it's going to make money. Military spending is a magical well of infinite money with little accountability. You can think up any project you want and get money to do it so long as you say you're going to strap a gun on your robot, or that the decentralized c…

This is supposed to be a positive aspect of defense R&D spending?

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#67

Post by chancho »

blhack wrote: post #44
starkfist wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, no, not really.

So where is this different? And how? Who is funding this outside of the US and for what?

Robotics research in Japan is primarily aimed at defending against giant space monster invasion. Oh wait, I guess that falls under defense.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#68

Post by kirubakaran »

thefool wrote: post #20
mrcharles wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself, I look forward to joining the resistance and shooting at them all day long.

Who are you kidding, the resistance is going to have open source versions of all these things shooting back.

Or the resistance will "jailbreak" some of these and turn them against their evil masters.
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