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The SPARK mine roller system is meant to detonate improvised explosive devices before they can do serious damage to a vehicle and its occupants.

(Credit: Tardec/U.S. Army)

Since very early on in the war in Iraq, U.S. troops have been finding new ways to protect themselves against explosions from roadside bombs: up-armored Humvees, heavy-duty MRAP vehicles, and a wide array of add-on gear.

For good reason, the U.S. Army has seen fit to honor some of those creations and adaptations among its annual list of top inventions. This year, the 2007 Army Greatest Invention winners include a mechanism called SPARK, designed to detonate roadside bombs--also known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs--before they can do too much damage to a vehicle, and HEAT, a training device to help soldiers learn how to escape a Humvee overturned by an explosion or other mishap.

SPARK is short for "self-protective adaptive roller kit," a mine roller system that attaches to the front or rear of a vehicle. It works by applying downward pressure in order to trigger IEDs before they're underneath the vehicle where their explosions are most devastating.

The HEAT mockup lets soldiers get a feel for a Humvee rollover in a safe environment.

(Credit: U.S. Army)

HEAT is the Humvee egress assistance trainer, a full-scale mockup of the vehicle interior that can be rotated through 360 degrees by an electric motor. It simulates a rollover and lets soldiers practice opening their safety harnesses and exiting through doors or hatches, even when upside-down or at an odd angle. It is now a required training stop for all soldiers and for some Defense Department civilian employees who will be serving overseas.

Both projects were led by the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or Tardec.

The full top 10 Army Greatest Inventions of 2007 have yet to be made public; an awards ceremony is planned for June 12.

For last year's winners, including anti-IED devices and the Buckeye aerial imaging system, which produces stunningly crisp photos, see "Photos: Army touts top tech inventions."

The U.S. military says it has been steadily increasing its inventory of unmanned flying machines, such as the small, hand-launched Raven model seen here. It can be equipped with cameras that beam back views from above.

(Credit: U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Raymond Piper)

WASHINGTON--The controversial surge in U.S. bodies to Iraq has dominated headlines in recent months, but the "unsung, unknown hero" isn't even human.

Or at least that's the assessment of Col. Donald Hazelwood, who runs the U.S. Army's unmanned aerial systems project office.

Speaking Friday at a confab here hosted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Hazelwood said daily use of drones has "forever changed" the way soldiers see what's around corners, detect improvised explosive devices, and fend off enemies in Baghdad and beyond.

"It doesn't get any better that that, when soldiers tell you it's easy to operate, it's easy to train on, and it's saving lives," Hazelwood said.

Just before the surge, the U.S. Army bumped up the number of unmanned aircraft in those skies by 35 percent, Hazelwood said.

UAV use, of course, spans all of the military branches and continues to increase, officials said Friday. Overall, the Pentagon's inventory of unmanned aerial systems has leapt from about 200 in 2002 to nearly 6,000 in 2008, said Dyke Weatherington, who oversees an unmanned systems wing of the U.S. Department of Defense. For the 2008 fiscal year, the Defense Department has a $15 billion budget just for unmanned systems, and a supplemental $500 million from Congress may also be on the way.

Beyond combat uses, unmanned vehicles are also being "used to give life," said Jason Haines, a 19-year military veteran who has served as a lieutenant commander in Iraq.

On one hand, use of the drones "kept me and my men alive, that's for sure," he told conference attendees. "They kept us ahead of the game. There were no surprises to us."

Testing has begun on a new, high-endurance, weapon-toting UAV called the Sky Warrior, which is built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The Army expects to begin using it next year.

(Credit: U.S. Army)

On the other hand, UAVs flying high above dangerous territories are also relaying tactical information that can help protect civilians, such as humanitarian assistance crews on the ground delivering relief supplies, Haines said. The former firefighter and paramedic said he also saw promise for use of UAVs by local police and fire crews and disaster relief crews in, say, hurricane-wrecked zones. Weather watchers also say the unmanned craft can be used to fly into hurricanes to take readings in place of the people-toting aircraft that now pull that duty.

As fond as the U.S. military is of touting the growing role unmanned vehicles play in battle, officials said some dramatic changes in the technology remain necessary.

One challenge is getting the various different breeds of robot to share data with one another. Right now, for instance, a drone flying in the sky may be able to beam data to computers at a command center, but it can't necessarily integrate data with, say, a ground-based robot.

Greater interoperability would permit soldiers to gather intelligence more easily from a number of different perspectives, rather than relying on one potentially limited source, said the Defense Department's Weatherington. It would also foster more efficient operations in the long run--after all, cost, airspace, and radio spectrum constraints mean the military can afford to add only so many new vehicles over time.

Another tough issue is making sure members of the rapidly multiplying drone population don't collide with one other--and with manned aircraft. Hazelwood said he was optimistic about the prospects for more military UAVs sharing airspace above the United States. The Army has already brought down its accident rates by 60 percent each year for the last three years, he said, so at that rate, "we ought to be able to fly in national airspace and convince the American public by 2012."

Major Michael Pottratz of the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center demonstrates proper fitting of the immersive binocular HARV display at the AFCEA West 2008 conference in San Diego.

(Credit: Mark Rutherford)

For Army researchers looking to give robot operators new ways to "see" via unmanned ground vehicles on the battlefield one thing is clear, legacy video doesn't cut it anymore.

It's not just broadcast quality or resolution that needs improvement, but the level of "telepresence": the sense of increased situational awareness that allows a robot driver to shoot and move and make fast decisions.

One possible upgrade is the three-axis Head-Aimed Remote Viewer (HARV), a dome enclosed, three-axel gimbal-mounted camera that slews around to match operator head movement. Wherever the soldier/operator looks, the unit instantly rotates to focus on that area. The operator's visual perception through the immersive binocular display is one of actually being onboard the vehicle, according to Chatten Associates.

It's not like watching a TV screen; it's more like standing there looking through slightly tinted glasses. Head-aiming capitalizes on the visual processing capability of the human mind yielding results that are three to four times faster than an ordinary pan/tilt systems with flat panel displays, according to the company. (See videos here.)

(Credit: Chatten Associates)

The way it stands now, operators must swerve the bot from side to side using a joystick to get a quick look around. But in this case, the operator's head position controls both the UGV sensors as well as where its weapon system is aimed. Head-aiming is twice as effective as the joystick-aiming, where tests showed that 15 percent of the hostile targets identified were actually friendly forces, according to Chatten.

The HARV includes optical and digital zoom, night vision, infrared illuminators and pointers, and stereo audio. It can also be controlled by a joystick, or a mouse control mounted on an infantryman's weapon's handgrip. This means the operator can keep his head up and not have to take his hands off his weapon.

Another attempt to improve robotic vision by Picatinny Arsenal - a super wide, fisheye lens called WARVVS (Wide Angle Robotic Vehicle Vision System). Seen here at West 2008 mounted on a SWORD UGV. A number of these units have already been delivered to Iraq and Army researchers are waiting for troop feedback on their effectiveness.

(Credit: Mark Rutherford)

(Credit: Northrop Grumman )

Despite the pickup truck and cow catcher styling, the prototype of the military's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) from Oshkosh Truck and Northrop Grumman promises better maneuverability, survivability, and payload capacity over the HMMWV it's designed to replace.

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps want something that comes armor-equipped, fuel-efficient, and air-droppable. It also wants a vehicle that can run on two flats and endure sustained small-arms fire. But most of all, performance must "exceed" that of the HMMWV, better known as the Humvee--which means it has to be more mine-resistant and ambush-proof than the flimsy Hummers plying the roads of Iraq today.

However, the Defense Department's decision to buy 6,800 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) as "interim" replacements to armored Humvees may mean that troops won't see the new JLTV until 2012, according to National Defense.

At least 18 other manufacturers are contributing elements or developing prototypes to compete for the next-generation of lightweight vehicles that will replace the Humvee, including General Tactical Vehicles, Hadas, Intermap Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Magna Powertrain, Mistral, ODF Optronics, Precision Remotes, Remote Reality, Reynolds Fasteners, Robertson Aviation, Rockwell Collins, Tai, Tesla Industries, and VSE, according to Defense News.

The companies agreed that if they are selected for the JLTV program, Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector will be the primary contractor and systems integrator, while Oshkosh Truck's Defense Group will be responsible for designing, engineering, and manufacturing the vehicle, according to a joint statement.

Established defense contractor iRobot has prevailed in courtroom battles against Robotic FX, effectively gaining an unconditional surrender from the upstart military-industrial wannabe.

An iRobot-supplied SUGV helps a pair of soldiers clear a building during an evaluation exercise early in 2007.

(Credit: U.S. Army)

Late on Friday, Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot said that two federal courts had ruled in its favor. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts determined that Robotic FX and founder Jameel Ahed--a former iRobot employee--had misused trade secrets belonging to iRobot, while the U.S. District Court in Northern Alabama determined that Robotic FX had deliberately infringed on patents.

As if that weren't enough, a related settlement requires the disbanding of Robotic FX, with certain assets to be retained by iRobot, and the banning of Ahed from competitive activities in the robotics industry for five years, according to iRobot. As of Sunday morning, the Robotic FX Web site was pointing to an iRobot page.

For a number of years, iRobot has been supplying the Pentagon with its Packbot technology--small, tracked robots that have been instrumental in locating and neutralizing explosive devices in Iraq. The company--best known for its Roomba, Scooba, and Looj gadgets for consumers--is also working on a related system known as SUGV (for small unmanned ground vehicle) as part of the Army's Future Combat Systems initiative.

A few months back, Allsip, Ill.-based Robotic FX had won a major contract with the U.S. Army to supply just those sorts of robots. But in a harbinger of the court rulings, the Army just days ago turned that contract--a $286 million, five-year deal to crank out up to 3,000 robots--over to iRobot. It plans to deliver the first 101 of those new robots "for urgent deployment."

In total, iRobot says it will have spent about $2.9 million on the dispute.

For the most thorough coverage of the months of legal wrangling between iRobot and Robotic FX, including links to the Massachusetts and Alabama rulings, check out Xconomy.com.

(Credit: U.S. Army Research Laboratory )

A simple and inexpensive analytical technique has made it possible to detect explosives from up to 60 feet away, a desirable commodity in an age of IEDs and suicide bombers and one that may become commercially available in the near future.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Maryland has developed a system that detects explosive residues, using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to identify the elemental composition of molecules. Refinement and standardization of this technique would fill a growing security and military need, researchers say.

"Currently there are no proven technologies that can accomplish residue explosives detection at a distance in a real-world scenario," said Jennifer Gottfried, who led the Army research team. And though the technology still needs to be "verified and validated in real-world applications," she is optimistic they will come up with a usable device. "We expect that this technology will be available commercially very soon."

Maybe sooner than expected. There's a race on from other labs to perfect the process.

(Credit: irobot)

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 snow on polymer tracks that use a patented flipper to stay right-side-up. All around it's one tough little SOB, as seen in the video below.

Plus, the Army has ordered 300 new high-performance radios to retrofit existing PackBots to increase the robot's operational range.

The Bots, plus spare parts and other equipment, will be delivered to the Army's Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., by the end of next year. The contract is worth $8.8 million, bringing it to a total of $45 million in orders to date, according to the company.

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.

(Credit: Kai Sensors)

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 guilty heart rate.

Kai Sensors' proprietary radar technology called LifeReader accurately detects and monitors heart and respiration activity wirelessly, remotely and with no contact with the subjects by using microwave, Doppler radar and digital signal processing, according to the company. LifeReader is the product of four years of research at the University of Hawaii's electrical engineering department.

The Defense Department has been experimenting with variations of this concept for years. For example, the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research has tested a "scancorder" that incorporated a micro-impulse radar developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in New Mexico that would allow medics to detect a victim's heart and lung movement through up to 20 feet of rubble.

At some point this technology could be incorporated into cars as a sophisticated baby monitor, which would mean no more excuses for leaving your kid in the car.

Three words you don't want to hear around the Simbex's new shock measuring helmet. "Wait! Wear this."

The U.S. Army has awarded $932,000 to Lebanon, N.H.-based Simbex for 20 Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System-equipped helmets to be used to "measure the shock from explosive devices." The Army wants to determine the amount of head trauma soldiers receive while in combat.

(Credit: Simbex)

"There has been tremendous interest in better understanding the biomechanics of brain injury following both blunt trauma and blast events," Simbex founder Richard Greenwald said. The technology is already in use by college and high school football players, where it has recorded more than 370,000 impacts, according to the company's Web site.

The helmets are outfitted with sensors that measure the amount of force dealt to the head when in and about the presence of an explosion, according to the company. The impact data can then be relayed into a soldiers' medical file.

Soldiers may receive multiple head injuries in combat that could go unnoticed until they begin to have short-term memory problems or changes in attitude, the company says. In theory, the helmet would provide a list of impact- or blast-related head injuries sustained by the soldier in case of mental or physical problems down the road.

That sounds good if you want to collect disability, but what if you want to run for public office?