Military Tuesday : Foster-Miller Inc’s Military Robots
I always had the assumption that robots currently used in military service were only used in place of humans in highly hazardous roles such as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
So when I saw the armed robot in the Games Convention 2007 trailer for the game Frontline : Fuel of War set in the near future, I immediately dismissed it as purely a vision of future warfare.
© Kaos Studios
Apparently, armed robots are a thing of reality (although not equipped with a multi-barreled cannon as in the trailer) when I saw Foster-Miller Inc’s listing in Army Technology, a directory of military-related suppliers.
Foster-Miller Inc manufactures TALON robots configured for EOD purposes as well as SWORDS variants for armed reconnaissance, outfitted with either a M16, 40mm grenade launcher, M240/M249 machinegun, Barrett .50 rifle or the M202 rocket launcher. (the product literature states that the M202 is an anti-tank weapon but the M202 apparently only fires M74 incendiary rockets from what I read at Gary’s U.S. Infantry Weapons Reference Guide - maybe new anti-tank rockets have been developed for the M202).
© Foster-Miller Inc
With the different weapon options available, it seems particularly suitable for urban warfare where it’s maximum speed of 6.6 km/h is not a limitation.
A more heavily armed version of TALON known as Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS) is already in the works - read the press release.
Right now, these robots are controlled remotely by humans so those stories about robots taking over the world and driving the human race to extinction aren’t going to happen (yet) 
Read more or download product brochures from Foster-Miller Inc’s TALON page. Alternatively view some of products created during Foster-Miller Inc’s 50(!) years in the robotics field in this 2.8 MB PDF (other PDFs are available from the Literature section.)
UPDATE 18 Oct 2007: More info on SWORDS at Defense Review and a super high resolution photo over at army.mil.
MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Vision of future war in Tom Clancy’s EndWar trailer
Possible Influences for Weapons in Frontlines : Fuel of War
