Tyndall AFB marches us towards Skynet

| April 6, 2021

We take one more step into the world where we’re hunted by robots. I for one welcome our new robot overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted veterans blog personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground lithium caves.

Anyway, back to our regular programming. The above pictured “robot dog” has arrived for duty at Tyndall AFB, Florida.

Santa Ynez Valley News reports;

The first official semi-autonomous robot dogs were delivered to Tyndall Air Force Base March 22 for integration into the 325th Security Forces Squadron.

The purpose of the Quad-legged Unmanned Ground Vehicles, or Q-UGVs, is to add an extra level of protection to the base. The robot dogs, designed by Ghost Robotics and Immersive Wisdom, are the first of their kind to be integrated onto a military installation and one of many innovation-based initiatives to begin at Tyndall AFB, coined the “Installation of the Future.”

“As a mobile sensor platform, the Q-UGVs will significantly increase situational awareness for defenders,” said Mark Shackley, Tyndall AFB Program Management Office security forces program manager. “They can patrol the remote areas of a base while defenders can continue to patrol and monitor other critical areas of an installation.”

Features applied to the robot dogs allow for easy navigation on difficult terrains. The robot dogs can operate in minus 40-degree to 131-degree conditions and have 14 sensors to create 360-degree awareness. They are also equipped with a crouch mode that lowers their center-of-gravity and a high-step mode that alters leg mobility, among other features.

Tyndall AFB’s Program Management Office, the 325th SFS, the 325th Civil Engineer Squadron, Air Force Research Laboratory, communications and other organizations have been working since July 2020 to ensure the Q-UGVs are assembled properly before reaching Tyndall AFB. The installation is considered an ideal base to host the new robot dogs with its ongoing rebuild.

“Tyndall (AFB) is a perfect test base as it was deemed ‘The Installation of the Future,’” said Master Sgt. Krystoffer Miller, 325th SFS operations support superintendent. “Across the base, every squadron has been pushing the envelope of how we do things and expanding our optics of what is possible. One huge attraction piece of the robot dogs is that it’s highly mobile and with the amount of construction we will face over the next few years, it helps us maintain and increase our security posture.”

This new technology has the capability to revolutionize the way base security operates. Tyndall AFB is expected to set the benchmark for the rest of the Defense Department when it comes to Q-UGV usage.

“I can say that there is definitely a lot of interest in the capabilities of the technology,” Miller said. “I’m hopeful that other units will see some of the successes at Tyndall (AFB) and will continue to explore the use of non-conventional tactics.”

These robots are also far less likely to be accused of sexual assault (for now), so I expect to see them at Fts. Hood and Sill soon.

Category: Air Force

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Sapper3307

I ordered sharks with lazars and got robot dogs?

Anonymous

At least it’s not mutated sea bass…

Anonymous

Uh-oh, it’ll chase these then:

The Other Whitey

What could possibly go wrong?

Ex-PH2

I knew it was coming…. just like when people knew that herding cats was ending…

FuzeVT

“14 sensors to create 360-degree awareness”
I’ve often wondered about Sci-fi robots that are designed to have the same weaknesses as humans. For example, why limit visual acuity to two orbs that go straight forward? (Looks like they got it right on this robo-pooch). Why put the central processing device in a head to be light sabered off. At least the General Grievous body guards still worked when their heads were chopped off. Why just two legs? Why would it have to communicate audibly to other of its kind? Since I’ve already brought up Star Wars, it seems like the worst offender for all of this is the battle droid. It seems to be designed with ever bad idea ever – and it was stupid. I know, “it was for the kids to laugh at”. Sure, but it still makes my point.
Robo-dog seems to show you what happens when engineers design a robot. I’m not an engineer, but bet I could design a pretty lethal and survivable robot for Skynet.
While we all indirectly bring up the Terminator, I would concur that the terminator itself would have to have all of those human design attributes (head, only 2 arms or legs, etc.) because it had to sometimes pass for human, but why put the central processing chip in the head? put that in the most protected part of the body – in the rib cage. That the human brain is in a part of the body that sticks up over the cover you may have to see the enemy seems to be a major design flaw.
(The last bit was tongue and cheek, God. You do awesome work.)

AW1Ed

stobor

TXNorsky

Here’s an interesting video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RIHnK0_NE

Some parts make you wonder…

(viewer warning. Don’t drink anything while watching.)

Ex-PH2

Geez Louise, that is both awesome and terrifying!!!!

Does it mean OUR troops will have to be microchipped with a signal that says they are H. Sapiens so that the Robotroops won’t shoot them?

But the robotroop grabbing the robodog and jumping off the cliff, then last seen trotting down a path with the robodog tucked under one arem — Terminator, here we come!!!

rgr1480

Y’all do realize it was CGI?

Bosstown Robotics, not to be confused with Boston Dynamics …..

“How We Faked a “Boston Dynamics” Robot”

Ex-PH2

Naaahhh!!! It was REAL!!! Had to be. ! saw it! I swear I did!

Henry

Almost certainly Simunitions. No actual trainer is that stupid.

KoB

Robot bats for ‘skeeter control would be a good idea too in FL.

Ex-PH2

And starve real bats to death?

I should say NOT!!!!

BATS’ LIVES MATTER!!!!!!!!

Ex-PH2

Why is it when I see these machines, they creep me out? Did I see “Terminator” and those BORG Star Trek episodes and Battlestar Galactica episodes too many times?

I think Isaac Asimov predicted something like this in “I, Robot”.

Mustang Major

Smart move on the Air Force’s part. Frees up Security Police for work on 1SG details.

A Proud Infidel®™

Those daisies in the PT Field aren’t going to pick themselves!

ChipNASA

2 Things…
1. It certainly won’t work for what Mason thinks they could be used for because they won’t eat peanut butter and
2. How the *HELL* do you pronounce “Q-UGV”
“Cue-Guhva” or maybe we could just refer to them as… “Yo, Sup Q-Dawg??”

I guess we’ll find out soon.

11B-Mailclerk

Q*bert

Reaperman

The headline combined with the picture of the two dogs together has suddenly made me want an all-dog remake of terminator. Maybe with Disney-hour-style human voiceovers.