Entry 6 - October 7, 2013

Pentagon-funded Atlas robot refuses to be knocked over

BBC News October 7, 2013

A US robotics company called Boston Dynamics, partly funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), has created two robots that they say, "Hold great promise for amplifying human effectiveness in defense operations." The first robot is called Atlas and it's a robot that is made to look somewhat like a human and it is capable of moving through rough terrain and keeping balance on one leg after being hit by a decently hard force from the side. The second robot is called WildCat and it's a four-legged robot that gallops up to a speed of 16 miles per hour. Darpa wants to improve these robots as they definitely aren't ready for any actual action yet. In December, there will be eight tests for these robots to see how useful they would be in emergency-response situations. Some of these tasks include using power tools and driving a rescue vehicle.

I think that these robots are really interesting, but I don't think that they will actually be used for emergency-response situations. These robots don't seem like they are very developed yet and it would be much easier and more practical for humans to continue taking care of emergency-response scenarios. Not only will these robots take time and hard work to develop further, but they are very expensive to manufacture and improve upon. In conclusion, I do think that it would be very cool having robots for emergencies and defense, but it's much easier to have men and women working these jobs.