We’ve all seen the movies where robots patrol compounds. The thing about robots is that they don’t tire and they also can “see” more than humans and could spot things a human might otherwise miss due to fatigue or just outright laziness. So it doesn’t really come a surprise to learn that the US Air Force has tested out using robot dogs to help protect their bases.
These “dogs” are known as the Vision 60 and were developed by a company called Ghost Robotics. They’re also referred to as an Unmanned Ground Vehicle. They can be used for remote inception, along with Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance missions, as well as mapping, communications, and security.
According to Ghost Robotics, they are touting how “unstoppable”. “Beyond all-terrain stability and operation in virtually any environment, a core design principle for our legged robots is reduced mechanical complexity when compared to any other legged robots, and even traditional wheeled-tracked UGVs. By reducing complexity, we inherently increase durability, agility and endurance, and reduce the cost to deploy and maintain ground robots.”
While unmanned ground vehicles aren’t exactly new, the fact that these Vision 60 robots are small and modular means that they’ll be more portable and easier to deploy.