Tag Archives: DARPA

Private sky yacht

Posted on February 15, 2008 | Comments Off on Private sky yacht

Fifty-three hundred square feet cruising at 130 mph up to 12,000 feet high, the Aeroscraft, a whale-shaped helium airship, is a long way from the explosive Hindenberg. Now, with Defense Advanced Research Project Agency funding for a militarily-useful version, Aeroscraft may finally get off the ground. Sure would be a lot more comfortable than the faster but cramped aluminum sausage.

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Posted in Scribbles

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Robot race in traffic

Posted on December 15, 2006 | Comments Off on Robot race in traffic

It took only a year for a university team to build a robot car that could complete a DARPA cross-country race without a major failure. Next year’s 60-mile race could be a lot harder, and some of the participants could be unwitting. The robots, at least, will have to be law-abiding.

"They will have to stop at stop signs, look for other vehicles, obey the rules of precedence at intersections, obey traffic laws (don’t cross double yellow center lines), pass other stationary and slow moving cars,  back up, park, make a U-turn and plan a new course when the main road is blocked, and take evasive action if a collision with another vehicle is imminent."

Don’t look now, but that ‘dummy’ in the car ahead of you really might be one.

Read it all at Doc In The Machine

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Posted in Science/Engineering

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Trauma Pod

Posted on December 9, 2006 | Comments Off on Trauma Pod

It’s like something out of Starship Troopers, the 1957 science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein, i.e. "pre-hospital or far forward battlefield casualty care…in which a self contained casualty ‘cocoon’ was sent automatically from the spaceship directly to the wounded soldier on the battlefield."

Doc In The Machine has three videos explaining the concept, which looks more doable in the first one, a video game-like presentation whose audio reminds me of the old Mech Warrior video game, than in the other two, or in this generalized explanation of some of the DARPA-funded work on it at the University of Texas-Austin. But definitely worth a look, including the news that its funding may be about to be eliminated.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, The War, Troops

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