Defense Dept. commissions Terminator-like droid

[Hush]

Defense Dept. commissions 'Cheetah' robot and Terminator-like droid; hummingbird drone also in works
(Videos)
BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... z1FDND6ahR

Someone tell Sarah Connor to stay out of Mass.

[msgmwrdn]

Hey.... What about John? You can't forget John!

[solitary.phoenix]

"The human-like bot, Atlas, will have two arms and legs, but no head, "

No .50 cal headshots then. Damn.

Well, anyone up for a large electromagnet group buy?

[Crosshair]

"The human-like bot, Atlas, will have two arms and legs, but no head, "

No .50 cal headshots then. Damn.

No, but I imagine the military's enthusiasm will diminish the first time someone captures, reprograms, and sends one back.

Imagine what would happen if someone managed to hack and gain control of a loaded Reaper Drone. Likely? Probably not. If it did happen..........

[solitary.phoenix]

Man I've never even thought of that. That would make an interesting threat.

[LavaRed]

I'm begining research to build a 1/4 or 1/8 scale drone Tiger I tank, with full ballistic steel armour plating and a 22mm or .45-110 HV main gun, so maybe that could be used to counter these

So far all I have are about 10 1/2" ballistic armour steel plates that I got for scrap, a spare used laptop, and a lot to learn about robotics .

[solitary.phoenix]

Lava, I have to say that I really admire your enthusiasm, ambition and ingenuity. You get s--t done, so I don't doubt you there on the remote Tiger one bit.

[LavaRed]

Lava, I have to say that I really admire your enthusiasm, ambition and ingenuity. You get s--t done, so I don't doubt you there on the remote Tiger one bit.

It will take years to complete tho. If I choose to do it in the larger scale, 1/4, the hull alone will be ~30" wide x ~50" long, with 1" plates on the front, 3/4" plates on the sides, and 1/4" plate on the roof.

Then the turret will have to be machined from solid steel billet 30"x30" into it's shape, with 3/4" sides, and 1/4" roof. Each roadwheel will be 8" diameter x 1" thick, and there are 48 of them if I go with the early version, or 32 if I go with the late version. I will have to order 16 torsion bars machined, 8 per side. Each will be 1/2" thick, traverse the width of the hull, and it will have to be supported by bearings and anchored to the hull, with a full pressure-lubricated system. Then come the torsion bars for each arm. And finally, I'll have to find someone local who can cast high-quality steel, so that they can cast me the 196 tracks, 98 per side. Plus possibly a spare set, if I can stretch my coin that far.

And when all of that is done, I have to design the internal mountings for all of the components. A small lawnmower motor to provide power to an alternator and sealed lead-acid batteries. Two 1/2 hp DC motors for the tracks. Controller hardware to control all of the RC functions. Gas tanks for the generators. Cooling systems for the electronics. Gearboxes and drive systems for the tracks.

And finally comes the turret. The turret and mantlet systems will have to be built to withstand the recoil of the massive 22mm cannon. Externally, the main gun will have to be 48" long and 1.75" thick. I'm thinking of using small oil or gas shocks to dampen the recoil. And then there's the challenge of making it more than a single-shot. I was thinking a 5 shot revolver cannon, but that may not withstand the pressures involved (more on the ammo later). So I have to use either a magazine, which will require implementing a recoiling-barrel operated lockign system, and making it fit in the turret, or a belt-feed (even more complex). Finally I could have a regular breechloader with a mechanical arm, but that would be severely complicated.

For ammo I was thinking of buying up a lot of scrap .50 BMG cases, cutting off the neck, learning reloading, and then have some carbide cores machined, so that later I can cast a lead jacket around them. That should get me the 22mm caliber. If that fails, then I guess use 12 gauge shotgun slugs, which are almost 22mm in diameter. Having a custom-made barrel for this application will also prove difficult and expensive.

Other than that, I will need to have a driver's port camera, a zeroble gunshight camera, and a rotating camera in the cupola.

And finally of course there's the little problem of running everything from the laptop, and building a suitable radio repeater to maximize the crappy Wi-Fi range.
That's it in a nutshell. Not to mention fine detailing and painting. I expect it will take about 3 years and a US$10,000 budget or so.

[solitary.phoenix]

At least you would have something that is guaranteed to be unique. Go for it, man.

Have you ever looked into creating ballistic exoskeletal armor? I'm not kidding.