Military tech

The company that ate the robot market, iRobot, has just received an order from the U.S. Army for 40 more PackBots, which means that will soon be more than 1,000 of these robots on active duty around the world.

Units ordered include some equipped with the ICx Fido Explosives Detector. Fido allows an operator to detect explosive vapors and particulates from munitions or IEDs from a safe distance using a game-style controller.

The 510 model was also included. It can lift 30 pounds and scoot around at almost 6 mph, climbs stairs, roll over rubble, rocks, mud and … Read more

Two months ago, Lenovo competitive analyst Matt Kohut wrote a blog post, Thinkpads are Ruggedized Machines, explaining why the laptop brand favored by many corporate wonks isn't available in a box you can drive over with your 7 Series. But it's not like the company is a stranger to expensive laptop packaging: It's releasing a $5,000 version of the X60 that's swaddled in leather and coddled by a special support staff.

On a recent trip to Lenovo HQ in Beijing, Kohut was shocked--shocked--to see a Lenovo-branded fully-rugged PC on display in the company's Innovation … Read more

As regular readers of this blog very well know, our overlord Mike Yamamoto is terrified of Hello Kitty and believes wholeheartedly that the pink-and-white feline is trying to take over the world. So, you can imagine, when I found evidence of an (unofficial) Hello Kitty assault rifle on BoingBoing (appropriately called the HK-47), I decided that maybe I ought to believe Mike and start getting worried.

Unfortunately, there isn't really a Hello Kitty assault rifle. The site that BoingBoing links to, "GlamGuns," is a parody site. You can't really commission them to create you a Hello … Read more

Finally, here's a phone plan that allows you to switch from the U.S. government's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network to the Unclassified but Sensitive Internet Protocol Router Network with a single keystroke.

The National Security Agency has authorized military and government personnel to order up a bunch of General Dynamics' Sectera Edge secure, wireless smartphones, which will not only allow them to make secure calls but also to e-mail and Web-browse in either classified or unclassified mode.

The phones will still operate right along with everyone else on the existing high-speed Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), … Read more

The next U.S. Air Force maverick may be talking to her plane instead of looking at its dash for updates.

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which the Air Force plans to roll out in 2008, will be the first U.S. fighter to respond to voice commands, the Air Force announced Wednesday.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate has been working on the idea for some time, trying out different systems from a variety of companies.

After years of testing, it now has a speech-recognition system that works from a microphone within a pilot'… Read more

While hardly the Armani of unmanned air vehicles, this Italian robo-plane's gourd-like form and earthy, ochre hue could fit right in with your autumnal cornucopia squash arrangement.

But the plane's paisanos are aiming a bit higher. The Sky-Y Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned, flying machino is one part of Rome-based Alenia Aeronautica's effort (PDF) to stake a claim in the expanding UAV world market.

Stretching a substantial 10 meters wing to wing, the Sky-Y's main innovations are its all-composite structure, a Dieseljet TDA 1.9 liter, direct-injection engine and its two-part ground station--one for the … Read more

The Army has turned to a Honolulu company for Doppler radar and advanced algorithm technology to be able to detect and monitor multiple subjects based on their heart rate, even through walls.

This means that soldiers will be able to detect someone hiding in a room before the door is kicked in, the company claims, and medics will be able to remotely perform triage and diagnoses or monitor casualties right through their flack jackets. It may also have homeland security and interrogation applications by allowing personnel to screen and identify individuals who may merit the third degree based on a … Read more

Based on the apparent premise that bigger is better, the company that makes the SWORDS gun-toting robot has introduced a plumper version called MAARS, or Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System.

Foster-Miller is pitching MAARS as its "Transformer model." Presto--watch it "literally 'transforming' from a remote weapons platform for force protection to Improvised Explosive Device (IED) identification and neutralization tool."

It takes some wrenching, but the modular design robotic platform can clear the souk with its turret-mounted M240B Medium Machine Gun, then quickly transform to bomb-disposal duty with an attachable arm and gripper.

And while it tips … Read more

It's such a common problem: There you are, wearing your best pair of night-vision goggles, and you can't see the damn keyboard. What's a clandestine operative to do?

iKey claims to have the answer with a LED keyboard that it says is "compatible with NV goggles, featuring filters that remove unwanted light interference" such as halo glows, according to Ubergizmo. It's kind of a version of Stacco Switch's rugged M779 that provides the necessary discretion you won't get with an LED piano lamp. Unfortunately for amateur spies, it seems to be aimed … Read more