First ‘robot dogs’ came into service in the U.S. military
WASHINGTON, (BM) – Officially, on March 22 this year, the 325th Squadron of the U.S. Army Security Forces at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, recruited the first robotic “four-legged friends of man” – robot dogs or Quad-legged unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGV).
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According to the military, the new “dogs” will increase the base’s security, improve the level of its protection and expand the security perimeter of the ground. Military experts have emphasized the latest statement, as “robot dogs” have been designed to work in various conditions, including hard-to-reach areas.
Ghost Robotics and Immersive Wisdom are the two companies that developed the robotic four-legged drone. They are part of the many initiatives taken at the base related to innovations and future developments in the U.S. military industry.
Q-UGVs are mobile and have many sensors, and this offers improved situational information awareness. Q-UGVs are semi-autonomous devices that will provide access to the rough and challenging terrain, says Mark Shackley. He is the program manager of the Tyndall Program Management Office.
Easy navigation and 360-degree awareness
The semi-autonomous “robot dogs” will provide the U.S. military with extra eyes in places where it would be difficult for a human or animal to continue its regular activities. We are talking about a temperature of -40 to +131 degrees, making them a truly indispensable part of military equipment.
Q-UGV has 14 sensors, cameras for 360-degree pictures, and several modes of “four limbs,” which can change their course of movement according to the change of the center of gravity.
The 25th SFS Tyndall is considered the ideal home for the moment of these “robot dogs”. Working on their integration into the base began last year when supervisors and engineers from the ground organized joint work on their assembly.
One colossal 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,” says Master Sergeant Krystoffer Miller
According to Miller, interest in Q-UGV is high and similar technologies will be integrated into other U.S. military bases, both at home and abroad.
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The military tested the “dogs’ for the first time in September 2020
Ten members of the 621st Contingency Response Group tested novel robot dogs for the first time during an exercise in early September at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado and Nellis AFB in Nevada, the US Air Force said. The autonomous robotic dogs are part of the “Advanced Battle Management System” with which commanders of combat units can monitor their equipment and locations in real-time.
During the exercise, the US Air Force transport aircraft, in conjunction with the new US Space Force units, landed in Nellis. They refueled F-16 fighter-bombers on the ground with the engines running with kerosene carried under simulated front-line conditions.
Previously, military police from the US Air Force had secured the site and used the new robotic dogs. The all-terrain four-legged friends carry video cameras, the images of which can be transmitted in real-time so that the guards can stay closer to their actual protected objects, in our photo of a Lockheed LC-130 of the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air Guard.
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