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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 08 2018, @10:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the sargent-squidward dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3941

In case you weren't already terrified of robots that can jump over walls, fly or crawl, Army researchers are developing your next nightmare — a flexible, soft robot inspired by squid and other invertebrates. And they want soldiers to be able to use 3D printers to make them on the battlefield.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the University of Minnesota are developing materials that can be 3D printed based on the flexibility and nimbleness of invertebrates such as a squid, according to an ARL release.

Traditional materials are too rigid and limit certain types of movement that robots might require to get into "confined or restricted spaces," said Ed Habtour, an ARL researcher. The prototypes that Habtour and fellow ARL researchers developed gave 3D-printed actuators three times the movement as what's been tested before. The material that they've used in their testing will bend in any direction when hit with electricity.

"In the initial phase of the project, our team began by investigating new methods for emulating the locomotion of invertebrates," said Michael McAlpine, a professor at the University of Minnesota. That helped researchers learn how to apply the natural movement of invertebrates like squids to produce "high bending motions without skeletal support," McAlpine said.

Source: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/04/18/army-researchers-are-developing-a-self-aware-robot-squid-you-can-3d-print-in-the-field/


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:16PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:16PM (#677026) Journal

    I wonder if it is more self aware than a thermostat.

    Can it kill large numbers of people?

    Can it do so indiscriminately and without bias? (unlike wedding cake bakers)

    What if most of the mass of such a weapon could then dissolve into a wonderful gaseous chemical weapon? Or if it could carry beautiful high explosive? Or some lovely thermite compound?

    What if it could be small enough like a snake to creep into hiding places, homes, mosques, hospitals, schools, nurseries and other places that might be in the administrations disfavor on a particular day? Or a particular tweet.

    Does it require an inhuman robot for its operation (like a flying armed drone might)?

    To the point of your question, does such a weapon need to be more self aware than a thermostat? Especially if the people operating it are not any more human than a thermostat? Then why does the weapon need to be?

    Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. [. . .]Joel 3:10 [biblehub.com]

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @07:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @07:50PM (#677158)

    The person who doesn't have a sword should sell his coat and buy one. Luke 22:36 [biblehub.com]