Highlights from the 26th Army Science Conference
Defense contractors like theme parks. At least that's what I surmise from the fact that DARPATech was next door to Disneyland and Army Science, a four-day extravaganza at the towering Orlando Marriott, is in spitting distance of Disneyworld.
As usual, the best stuff is at the exhibition hall. Meet the BEAR.
This is what happens when you have a hotbed of MIT engineering graduates in a recession. The BEAR is a search and rescue robot for injured soldiers. They made it cute so it wouldn't look like the Terminator is coming to get you
It can get into many different poses- bend its knees backward for example, it can balance and drive around on its "tip toes" to better place a soldier on an operating table.
At the exhibit he was lifting a 70-pound sand bag like it was a styrofoam cup, but he's been engineered to lift 520 pounds. That should be enough for a soldier and his pack.
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