On June 5, 2006,
the Heritage Foundation held an event titled "Robots: the
Future is Here." The discussion, part of the 2006 Competitive
Technology for National Security Policy series, brought together
representatives from industry, academia, and government to discuss
the current state, and future direction, of robotics technology for
national security.
Helen Greiner, the
chairman and founder of iRobot, described robots as a disruptive
technology, which has the possibility to change human life. Robots
that are agile and autonomous are well-suited for jobs that are
"dull, dirty, and dangerous" and will significantly change the way
we live.
Current combat
operations provide an example. The U.S. military used robots in
cave-clearing operations in Afghanistan, and robots are used in
Iraq to help clear improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The
advantage of using robots in such situations, Ms. Greiner said, was
that no human lives have to be risked. In fact, robots have saved
dozens of soldiers' lives in both countries. Future uses for such
robots include urban combat, sniper detection, explosive
"sniffers," nuclear/biological/chemical sensing, mapping, and
service as weapons platforms. Ms. Greiner explained that robots
could provide innovative, flexible, and "persistent" solutions to
evolving threats and problems.
Dr. John Leonard
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said that the
six fundamental challenges in autonomous robot development are
locomotion, mapping and navigation, motion planning, object
recognition, manipulation of objects, and cooperation between
robots. Dr. Leonard's research focuses on Autonomous Underwater and
Sea Surface Vehicles whose uses include undersea mapping and mine
detection and minefield mapping, as well as ship inspection. Groups
of networked autonomous underwater vehicles could potentially
provide position, mapping, communication, and surveillance
capabilities to surface fleets or ships. Dr. Leonard has also built
autonomous surface craft with off-the-shelf technology that could
have applications in disaster-relief situations such as hurricanes,
tsunamis, or floods, where they could rescue survivors, deliver
food, water, and medical supplies, or even help establish an
emergency communications network for emergency personnel.
Dr. Vladimir
Lumelsky of NASA described the current state of robotic
development, especially in relation to robot arm manipulators'
interactions with humans. In the 1960s, many claims of the promises
of robotics were going to be fulfilled "within a few years." Forty
years later, while many earlier predictions have not been realized,
there are now over one million robotic arm manipulators used in
industry.
In the past 15
years, better electronics and computers have led to progress in
robotics, according to Dr. Lumelsky. Robots have become very good
at structured tasks-such as automobile body welding-but are still
not good at unstructured interaction with humans. NASA is working
on sensor-studded "skin" that can be used to cover robotic arms so
that they can interact with their environment in an unstructured
manner.
According to Mr.
Stephen Welby of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), robotics use in national
security is trending towards more autonomy in increasingly complex
environments. Robots have advantages over humans in areas such as
strength, size, mobility, expendability, and the types of
environments in which they can work. For example, the U.S. Air
Force's aircraft with the single most combat hours is a RQ-4A
Global Hawk robotic surveillance aircraft. This aircraft can
operate for over 24 hours at an altitude of over 65,000
feet-something a human pilot cannot do.
In the next steps
of robotics, according Mr. Welby, robots will not simply mimic
human actions, but use their unique abilities and advantages in
ways that humans cannot duplicate. DARPA is currently investigating
Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicles (UGCVs), surgical and
medical-assistant robots, and robots that autonomously service and
repair satellites. To encourage development in UGCVs, DARPA
recently held a competition for robotic vehicles to complete a
132-mile course across the Nevada desert, the "Grand Challenge."
This program will be repeated in 2007 in an urban environment.
While robotics is
still in its "Wright Brothers" stage, where the first generation of
these technologies is still being explored, the robotic
technologies available today are being deployed dynamically for
national security applications.
Andrew Gudgel is a
freelance writer currently residing in Maryland. Laura P. Keith is
a Research Assistant in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center
for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and
Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The
Heritage Foundation.