Military tech

Boeing building lasers for Navy machine guns

Boeing is formally joining an effort to give directed-energy capabilities to U.S. Navy machine guns through a BAE Systems effort to develop the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System.

The technology will unite a solid-state, high-energy laser weapon module with BAE's Mk 38 Mod 2 gun system. It will add adjustable levels of laser energy to counter threats such as small boats and UAVs.

"This is revolutionary--to combine kinetic and directed energy weapons capability into one system," says Boeing spokesperson Elizabeth Merida. "Adding the laser system provides extremely precise targeting ability."

The tie-up … Read more

Navy testing robot Jet Ski for harbor patrols

The Office of Naval Research is testing a robot Jet Ski that uses sonar, radar, and video to patrol harbors for terrorist threats.

The Blackfish was developed by military contractor Qinetic and is basically a modified Jet Ski, according to a Discovery News report. It's mainly intended to deter swimmers bent on attacking U.S. military vessels.

The remote-controlled recon device is 10 feet long and can cruise at up to 40 mph on a hydro-jet. It can also move slowly enough to detect swimmers.

The Blackfish has a 1-kilometer range but can run a course around GPS waypoints. Weaponry could be added to the system.

"In both domestic and foreign ports, there's great concern about swimmers approaching the boats underwater," the report quotes Mark Hewitt, senior vice president for maritime and transportation for Qinetiq North America, as saying. "The Navy has been working on the problem for some time." … Read more

Sunglasses smarten up to 'fight' the sun's glare

Some people pay a lot of money for sunglasses that do very little. If new glare-fighting tech comes to market, they could continue paying a lot of money, but for sunglasses that actually protect their eyes from the sun's harsh glare.

Since 2003, when he founded Dynamic Eye, entrepreneur Chris Mullin has been working on eyewear tech that can detect bright spots of light and then darken specific regions of the lenses to block that glare. He has now teamed up with the University at Buffalo to bring to develop sunglasses employing this tech.

"Our products let users … Read more

Turbine Batmobile blows your mind (and ears)

Going all the way back to the original red-highlighted Batmobile on up to Christian Bale's modern and aggressive Tumbler, Batman has always had the coolest, most powerful cars.

Casey Putsch at Putsch Racing took the inspiration for his personal Batmobile from the 1989 Michael Keaton film version. He calls it the world's only real Batmobile. He makes that claim based on a very powerful and loud argument: a turbine engine.

That's right. Let's linger on that a moment. This car has a military-spec Boeing turbine engine culled from a drone helicopter. Turn up your speakers and watch the video below to get an idea of what it sounds like.… Read more

'Deadliest Warrior' weapons guru makes the cut

LOS ANGELES--When Spike TV's "Deadliest Warrior" needs to re-create weapons of the distant past to pit soldiers of bygone eras against each other, it turns to weapons fabricator David Baker and his workshop.

Hidden away in the vast basement below the "Deadliest Warrior" Los Angeles studios, Baker and his team combine historical research with carpentry, metallurgy, and weapons expertise to forge copies of the swords, shields, bows, and arrows used by antiquity's greatest armies. Baker brought years of experience making swords and other realistic period weapons for Hollywood to "Deadliest Warrior," and he brings a passion for weaponry to every creation. … Read more

Navy one step closer to aircraft carrier X-47B flights

The Navy recently took a big step closer to getting the X-47B robot stealth plane flying off aircraft carriers when it landed a Hornet fighter jet on the USS Eisenhower using unmanned systems.

The takeoff and landing in the Atlantic of the F/A-18D Hornet on July 2 used systems developed under the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B, made by Northrop Grumman, is designed to use carriers as its base.

Carrier landings are one of the trickiest feats in aviation. While two airmen were aboard the Hornet, the avionics and software were the same as those that will be used in the X-47B.

The bat-winged stealth plane had its maiden flight in February and is designed to fly along pre-programmed paths and at "high subsonic" top speed, far faster than the Predator and Reaper drones. It will also have a much greater weapons payload of 4,500 pounds. … Read more

Kinect makes your hand a quadrocopter remote

Harry Potter would be jealous. The folks at ETH Zurich's Flying Machine Arena are making quadrocopters fly around the room with only hand gestures--no wand required.

The little four-rotor helicopter's remote control is hooked up to a Kinect Xbox controller and the controller's cameras are mounted above the user to give it a top-down view of the user's gestures.

Hold your right hand out, and the quadrocopter hovers a set distance away from you in line with your head and hand. Sweep your right hand, and the quadrocopter moves in the direction your hand's moving. Hold your left hand over your head, and the quadrocopter does a loop. Clap, and the quadrocopter lands.

It sure seems like magic; check out the video below.… Read more

'Robopocalypse': Talkin' robot Armageddon (Q&A)

Skynet? That's so 1980s. Evil artificial intelligence has a new name, and it's Archos.

Archos is the villain in Daniel Wilson's new novel "Robopocalypse," and it's bad-ass. The time is the near future, and Archos has taken control of every intelligent machine on the planet, from household robots to airplane autopilots to self-driving cars. All of them are trying to kill or enslave humans:

In the first months after Zero Hour, billions of people around the world began a fight for survival. Many were murdered by technology they had come to trust: automobiles, domestic robots, and smart buildings. Others were captured and led to the forced-labor camps that sprang up outside major cities. But for the people who ran for the hills to fend for themselves--the refugees--other human beings soon proved to be just as dangerous as Rob. Or more so. ("Robopocalypse," p. 195)

The premise isn't new. But Wilson, who has a doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, invests it with a remarkable realism. It's also a fast-paced, multifaceted tale of survival told by characters ranging from an elderly engineer in Japan to a U.S. Army technician in Afghanistan to a resistance fighter in Alaska. As relentless as a Predator drone, this mind-bending thriller will make you tread a lot more carefully around your Roomba. … Read more

Peek inside a hand-cranked Civil War submarine

Long before before U-Boats or Red October, the Confederate States of America were fighting bloody battles against the North on foot, on horseback, and with at least one hand-powered submarine. This month, almost 150 years after becoming what the U.S. Navy calls the first submarine in history to successfully attack another vessel--and then promptly and mysteriously sinking to the bottom of Charleston Harbor--one side of the C.S.S. Hunley is finally seeing the light of day again.

The psuedo-steampunk relic was finally found at the bottom of the Atlantic resting on its side at a 45-degree angle about 11 years ago, and it's been in a South Carolina lab, held in the exact same position in slings ever since. Until now. Last week, the Hunley was rotated to an upright position for the first time since Abraham Lincoln was still breathing--how's that for old-school heavy metal? … Read more