The U.S. army will be gaining more technological power in the next 5 years. The U.S. military forces announced a US$ 400 million contract with Foster-Miller, a company that produces robots used to defuse mines and explosives, act as sentinels and also to carry heavy equipments. The contract predicts the production of an army of two thousand to four thousand replica robots ‘Talon’ specialized in defusing bombs.
According to the American magazine ‘Wired’, this is the Pentagon’s greatest investment made in robotics recently. In December, the U.S. government spent US$ 286 million purchasing units manufactured by Robotic FX.
The Talon, a robot operated by remote control, is already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan assisting troops in detection and defuse of explosives. Usually, the ‘life’ of a robot specialized in this area is short because many of the bombs cannot be defused and end up being exploded, but in a safe method.
Even though I am against war and investments in technological weapons, thinking in how many casualties and wounded soldiers this technology will be able to prevent, I think it is a good invention since it is used to protect and secure the life of many soldiers in the war field.
20600642 Entry #12
