Russian robotic soldier revealed

[Sridhar]

Russian robotic soldier revealed


Published 28 October, 2009, 17:06
Edited 30 January, 2010, 11:06
A prototype track-mounted combat platform tailored to use Russian weapons has been unveiled at an arms show in Moscow. Producers say it beats the similar American bot widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.
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The bot, called MRK-27-BT, was produced by the robotics lab of the Moscow Bauman Technical University. It was shown to the public at the Interpolitex-2009 arms exhibition.
MRK-27-BT’s standard armament includes two Shmel rocket launchers, two grenade launchers, a Pecheneg machine gun with a 100 round ammunition belt, and six smoke grenades. It is operated with a couple of joysticks and has a maximum range of 500 meters. All the weapons are standard issue used by human soldiers and can be detached in the field.
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The project is similar to SWORDS, a weaponized version of Foster-Miller’s TALON platform. While the platform is extensively used by US military for disposing of explosives and other tasks, the real weapon-wielding bot was never used in actual combat.
Russian developers say their project beats the American counterpart in mobility and speed thanks to a superior track design. Its weapon mount is more flexible and can extend over a foxhole edge. It also has a built-in recoil suppressor. At the same time the Russian robot is larger, standing 1.5 meters tall with its mount raised, while SWORDS is barely knee high.
Designers hope that Russian Defense Ministry will order a trial series of the platform. However, according to RIA Novosti’s sources, top brass want a developed doctrine about the use of combat robots before committing.


http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-10-28/russian-robotic-soldier-revealed.html?fullstory

 

[Sridhar]

A shot in the right direction
Published 30 January, 2010, 10:19
Edited 01 February, 2010, 10:27
The US already has thousands of military robots and unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan. As for the prospect of killer robots stalking the battlefield – Russia is catching up, with a Russian team building one too.


The US has been using unmanned drones for a number of years, and now it is testing land-based robots in Iraq and Afghanistan, which despite being in their early stages, are showing a lot of potential.
But military forces around the world are not ignoring robot technology either. A Russian team from Moscow’s Bauman Technical University has been at work to build one too.
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The team's first creation was a bomb-detecting and destroying robot. First it analyses the package with sensors, and then destroys whatever explosives are inside with high-powered water jets.
Having succeeded with their first creation, they then moved on to a military spy robot. It is able to look around corners and up into first floor windows with an extendable camera. Then, if it needs to call in fire support to tackle the bad guys, it calls on a partner robot – like the MRK-27 BT, equipped with a machine-gun, two grenade launchers and two rocket launchers.

In fact, these creations are the latest in a long history of robot development in Russia, which is a good deal longer than one might think.
“In 1938, Russian robot tanks were invented. They took part in the Russian Finnish war,” Anatoly Dmitrievich, former robot developer and expert, told RT. “The person who controlled it was in a shelter pressing buttons. He was able to see the tank and control it, the tank attacked and shot on its own.”
But despite this early innovation, Russian robot development has been largely ignored since the 1970s.
The US took the lead and now has thousands of robots operating in Afghanistan.
The team at Bauman Technical University wants Russia to catch up. But will their robot meet with approval from the Russian army?
“I cannot give you a definite answer if this robot will be used in our army, but we hope so,” said robot designer Ilya Laverichev. “Maybe not this exact model, but something improved, modified and modernized.”

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-01-30/russian-military-robot-bauman.html?fullstory