- Email: [email protected]
Wii and iPhone help military control freaks
Wii and iPhone help military control freaks
IF YOU see a soldier in action waving a Nintendo Wii remotecontrol unit with one hand and holding an Apple iPhone in the other, don’t assume they’re slacking off. Soldiers may soon be using such devices to interact with their robotic assistants. The “Wiimote” control system allows game players to direct onscreen action using a wireless wand that detects acceleration in three dimensions. It has already found some unexpected uses, such as manipulating ultrasound images and monitoring movement deficiencies in people with Parkinson’s disease (New Scientist, 16 February, p 26). Now David Bruemmer and Douglas Few, both engineers at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Lab in Idaho Falls, have modified a military robot so that it can be controlled by the Wiimote. Packbot, made by iRobot in Burlington, Massachusetts,
MAJOR DEANNA BAGUE/US ARMY
Technology beamed back and presented on a laptop display, but the soldier can be so occupied with the robot’s controls that they can easily miss this, says Bruemmer. “Our tests show 90 per cent of the operator’s workload goes into driving the robot rather than keeping an eye on the sensor data.” The Wiimote is far more intuitive because movements of the hand directly translate into movements of the robot. Bruemmer says it should allow soldiers to control the robots
“Using the ‘Wiimote’ to intuitively control the robot makes sense”
more instinctively, freeing them up to pay closer attention to the incoming sensor data. “It’s awesome,” Few says, although they have yet to ask the soldiers themselves what they think. –This is no game– Bruemmer and Few have also written software that sends a similar to the controller used with signal to the Wiimote when the disposes of bombs, sniffs out robot has detected something most video games consoles, or a explosives and checks for of special interest – somebody traditional joystick. The joypad landmines for US soldiers. It is trapped in a building, say – 70 centimetres long, and moves on consists of two groups of thumbactivated buttons, one for steering activating the Wiimote’s built-in wheels or tracks. Some even have vibration feedback. machine guns attached, although and the other for speed control. “Using the Wiimote to The problem with the joypad is these are yet to be used in battle that it takes a lot of concentration control various aspects of the (see “Make robots, not war”). and can monopolise the attention robot makes a lot of sense,” says Packbot is capable of some Colin Angle of iRobot. of the soldier using it. Any autonomous tasks, but is usually The pair also plan to information the robot gathers is remote-controlled by a “joypad” harness the iPhone for military use. As an alternative to lugging a laptop around, Few and Bruemmer plan to modify the Packbot to transmit footage As military robots grow more International Committee of the Red Cross of the software is being worked on,” compatible with the palm-sized sophisticated, some of their designers and Amnesty International. says Ronald Arkin of the Georgia iPhone. Its touch screen should are now taking action to prevent Meanwhile, earlier this month Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who also allow soldiers to manipulate autonomous ones being used as in a discussion on robot ethics at the attended a meeting about armed robots the video captured by the robot killing machines. Human-Robot Interaction conference at the Pentagon. His controversial view more intuitively. Noel Sharkey, a roboticist at the in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Peter is that because robots’ judgements will The team will also be adding University of Sheffield in the UK, has Kahn, a researcher in social robotics at be unclouded by fear or other emotions, Wiimote control to the military long campaigned against arming the University of Washington, Seattle, they will be less likely than human Talon robots, made by Fosterautonomous robots. He is working with called on roboticists to stop accepting soldiers to break the ethical conventions Miller of Waltham, Massachusetts, Landmine Action, a London-based NGO, research grants from the US Department of war. He is writing a set of ethical rules but it could be applied to other on a proposal to create an international of Defense (DoD): “We can say ‘no’. And that could be programmed into a robot. types. “When trying to envision treaty that would ban the practice. if enough of us say it we can ensure Even though many roboticists agree controlling a future domestic “I want an immediate international ban robots are used for peaceful purposes.” with Sharkey and Kahn, and not with robot, I don’t picture sitting down on autonomous mobile weapons that Although today’s armed robots are Arkin, joining such campaigns is not to my PC to instruct it to fetch me are allowed to make decisions regarding remote-controlled by soldiers, there are always straightforward. “If I don’t work something,” says Bruemmer. the application of lethal force,” Sharkey plans to give them decision-making for the DoD, I don’t work,” says one says. He also hopes to involve the capabilities. “Verification and validation American roboticist. Paul Marks, Amsterdam
MAKE ROBOTS, NOT WAR
26 | NewScientist | 29 March 2008
www.newscientist.com
IF YOU see a soldier in action waving a Nintendo Wii remotecontrol unit with one hand and holding an Apple iPhone in the other, don’t assume they’re slacking off. Soldiers may soon be using such devices to interact with their robotic assistants. The “Wiimote” control system allows game players to direct onscreen action using a wireless wand that detects acceleration in three dimensions. It has already found some unexpected uses, such as manipulating ultrasound images and monitoring movement deficiencies in people with Parkinson’s disease (New Scientist, 16 February, p 26). Now David Bruemmer and Douglas Few, both engineers at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Lab in Idaho Falls, have modified a military robot so that it can be controlled by the Wiimote. Packbot, made by iRobot in Burlington, Massachusetts,
MAJOR DEANNA BAGUE/US ARMY
Technology beamed back and presented on a laptop display, but the soldier can be so occupied with the robot’s controls that they can easily miss this, says Bruemmer. “Our tests show 90 per cent of the operator’s workload goes into driving the robot rather than keeping an eye on the sensor data.” The Wiimote is far more intuitive because movements of the hand directly translate into movements of the robot. Bruemmer says it should allow soldiers to control the robots
“Using the ‘Wiimote’ to intuitively control the robot makes sense”
more instinctively, freeing them up to pay closer attention to the incoming sensor data. “It’s awesome,” Few says, although they have yet to ask the soldiers themselves what they think. –This is no game– Bruemmer and Few have also written software that sends a similar to the controller used with signal to the Wiimote when the disposes of bombs, sniffs out robot has detected something most video games consoles, or a explosives and checks for of special interest – somebody traditional joystick. The joypad landmines for US soldiers. It is trapped in a building, say – 70 centimetres long, and moves on consists of two groups of thumbactivated buttons, one for steering activating the Wiimote’s built-in wheels or tracks. Some even have vibration feedback. machine guns attached, although and the other for speed control. “Using the Wiimote to The problem with the joypad is these are yet to be used in battle that it takes a lot of concentration control various aspects of the (see “Make robots, not war”). and can monopolise the attention robot makes a lot of sense,” says Packbot is capable of some Colin Angle of iRobot. of the soldier using it. Any autonomous tasks, but is usually The pair also plan to information the robot gathers is remote-controlled by a “joypad” harness the iPhone for military use. As an alternative to lugging a laptop around, Few and Bruemmer plan to modify the Packbot to transmit footage As military robots grow more International Committee of the Red Cross of the software is being worked on,” compatible with the palm-sized sophisticated, some of their designers and Amnesty International. says Ronald Arkin of the Georgia iPhone. Its touch screen should are now taking action to prevent Meanwhile, earlier this month Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who also allow soldiers to manipulate autonomous ones being used as in a discussion on robot ethics at the attended a meeting about armed robots the video captured by the robot killing machines. Human-Robot Interaction conference at the Pentagon. His controversial view more intuitively. Noel Sharkey, a roboticist at the in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Peter is that because robots’ judgements will The team will also be adding University of Sheffield in the UK, has Kahn, a researcher in social robotics at be unclouded by fear or other emotions, Wiimote control to the military long campaigned against arming the University of Washington, Seattle, they will be less likely than human Talon robots, made by Fosterautonomous robots. He is working with called on roboticists to stop accepting soldiers to break the ethical conventions Miller of Waltham, Massachusetts, Landmine Action, a London-based NGO, research grants from the US Department of war. He is writing a set of ethical rules but it could be applied to other on a proposal to create an international of Defense (DoD): “We can say ‘no’. And that could be programmed into a robot. types. “When trying to envision treaty that would ban the practice. if enough of us say it we can ensure Even though many roboticists agree controlling a future domestic “I want an immediate international ban robots are used for peaceful purposes.” with Sharkey and Kahn, and not with robot, I don’t picture sitting down on autonomous mobile weapons that Although today’s armed robots are Arkin, joining such campaigns is not to my PC to instruct it to fetch me are allowed to make decisions regarding remote-controlled by soldiers, there are always straightforward. “If I don’t work something,” says Bruemmer. the application of lethal force,” Sharkey plans to give them decision-making for the DoD, I don’t work,” says one says. He also hopes to involve the capabilities. “Verification and validation American roboticist. Paul Marks, Amsterdam
MAKE ROBOTS, NOT WAR
26 | NewScientist | 29 March 2008
www.newscientist.com