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Wired News (wireservice.wired.com) has great DARPA Grand Challenge news, photos, videos and more
Thursday, May 21
Army Terminators Walk Like Men
In 2005, one of the competitors in Darpa's Grand Challenge for robot vehicles was an unmanned motor bike called Ghost Rider. This was based on a 90-cc dirt bike outfitted with sensors, gyros for steering and video cameras for eyes. ...
Tuesday, Apr 7
Clandestine Compound Could Power New Pain Ray
GaN technology could give us small, efficient Active Denial weapons –- small enough to be installed as a non-lethal option in existing vehicles (lack of this technology meant the previous small pain beam built for Project Sheriff was not powerful enough). If successful, the technology...
Thursday, Mar 26
Navy Scientists Zip Lips on Cold Fusion Tests
This sounds suspiciously as though Darpa has been getting involved in the cold fusion club – without mentioning it in a way that might attract undue attention. (They learned their lesson the hard way over the isomer triggering issue )
Friday, Mar 13
Defense Firm's Global Warming Solution: More Drones
Specifically, Burke called for using more pilotless aircraft in Earth observation missions. The latest unmanned aerial vehicles, he argued, can offer wider coverage than geosynchronous or polar-orbiting satellites, and they can be customized to carry payloads that monitor climat...
Thursday, Mar 12
Air Force Signs on to Darpa's All-Seeing Blimp
It's significant for another reason: Tony Tether, who recently stepped down as chief of Darpa after almost eight years on the job, was a big fan of ISIS. This ensures that development of the concept will continue in some form after Tether's departure.
Thursday, Mar 5
Darpa Wants a Lab for Sim Afghanistans
The U.S. military is bankrolling a dozen or more programs, to create Sim Afghansitans and Sim Iraqs where they can test their war plans. The problem is, each model-maker uses his own set of country-building software, his own set of data about the country's social, cultural, and political st...
Thursday, Feb 19
Air Force to Unleash 'Gorgon Stare' on Squirting Insurgents
Reapers and MQ-1 Predators are often called on to track vehicles and hover over buildings to watch for "squirters," or insurgents running out of buildings during U.S. operations. Airmen controlling the sensors sometimes lose track of those vehicles or squirters if they drive or run out of...
Wednesday, Feb 18
Five for Fighting 2/18/09
Darpa wants "biofouling"-free ships... New Afghan supply route: via Iran * Darpa wants "biofouling"-free ships... * ...and software that can "explain" its own "anomalous behavior" * Hamas' "medicine grenades" * Video: Tank vs. Ranger Rover (High five: RC)
Tuesday, Feb 17
Stimulus to Pay for 'Greening' of the Military
President Barack Obama is due to sign a massive, $787 billion stimulus package today in Denver. A healthy-sized portion of it -- around $20 billion -- is supposed to go towards promoting green energy. That includes $3.6 billion to pay for energy efficiency projects and facilities upgrades...
Wednesday, Feb 11
Who'll Be the Next Darpa Chief?
Tony Tether, the long-time chief of Darpa, is stepping down. So who'll be the next to head up the Pentagon's premiere research agency -- and become the country's most visible defense geek? Several different names keep coming up. In no particular order, they include:
Monday, Feb 9
Tether, Longest-Serving Darpa Chief, is Out
So it's over. Tony The longest-serving chief of the Pentagon's premiere research agency is stepping down. Tony Tether was appointed by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to head Darpa in 2001. But, defying convention, Tether expected to remain in charge of the agency through the...
Wednesday, Feb 4
Software Swarm to Spot Rockets Before They're Fired
There are plenty of systems out there to identify the direction of a shooter after he has opened fire. But it might be too late by then. That's why Darpa is developing a system to spot a rocket propelled grenade before it's fired. It's a major challenge, but the solution may lie with a swarm of sof...
Tuesday, Jan 27
Going Solar in Baghdad
But the military's interest in green tech is not limited to Iraq. NATO forces in Afghanistan are using solar-powered streetlamps as a security tool. And as Noah reported last year, the Army is planning to build one of the world's most powerful solar arrays.
New Drones Enlisted as Bomb-Fighters
Then there's "VADER, "short for "Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar." It's a $45 million project to equip a drone with a specialized Synthetic Aperture Radar. These sensors are better at tracking moving targets -- and changing scenery -- than standard cameras. And they work in all k...
Friday, Jan 9
Darpa Chief Staying on - For Now
Tony Tether, the controversial chief of Pentagon premiere research agency Darpa, will remain in office during the Obama administration. At least, for a little while. "Dr. Tether will be here after Jan. 20, and there's no formal date on which he plans to leave," Darpa spokesman Jan Walker tel...
Thursday, Dec 4
NATO Going Solar in Afghanistan
Darpa Wants Clean, Cheap Jet Fuel — From CoalBaghdad Base's New Generators Run on Trash Air Force Base Goes Solar; Nukes Next?Air Force to Darpa: Free Us From the Oil CartelsPentagon's Novel Idea: Stop Guzzling GasPentagon and the End of OilSolar Panels Power UpJoint Chiefs Neg "Urgent...
Friday, Nov 21
Autonomous VW says, "Look, Ma - No Hands"
Nevertheless, the engineers at VW are confident that in the future they will be able to reach the company's goal of making autonomous vehicles safer and more fun. Last year, Junior managed to finish in second place at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge....
Thursday, Nov 13
Pentagon Clears Flying Car Project for Take-Off
Darpa hopes its "Personal Air Vehicle Technology" project, announced yesterday, will ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car -- a two-to-four passenger vehicle that can "drive on roads" one minute, and take off like a helicopter the next. The hybrid ma...
Monday, Nov 10
Darpa Wants Sim to 'Resurrect' Battlefield Trauma
RESURRECT could also do some forecasting, too. Darpa would like the program to include "descriptive and predictive algorithms that can be implemented in an existing simulation software package." Far-off commanders can already watch battles unfold, thanks to spy drones, streaming vi...
Friday, Oct 31
'Artificial Intuition,' Earthquake Detectors vie for Pentagon Prize
Everyone from Darpa to the National Security Initiative seems to be dangling pots of cash in front of inventors, entrepreneurs and scientists to come up with innovative new ideas for defense and national security. Here's another contest to watch.
Sunday, Oct 26
Awesomely Bad Defense Trinkets, Part II
Earlier this week, I posted a few excellent pieces of defense swag, including a Hawaiian shirt with an AH-64 Apache helicopter motif; a cuddly hand puppet advertising mine-resistant vehicles; and a mug from the government's top-secret Mount Weather facility. Darpa playing cards
Thursday, Sep 6
DARPA Grand Challenge vs. European Land Robot | Danger Room from ...
Basically, the vehicle even was equipped very similarly, but in contrast to the Darpa Grand Challenge where the vehicles drive along a track that connects waypoints, defined by GPS navigation, the European Land Robot Trial does not ...
