Could Segways replace soldiers as hired killers?
The SRPM program is, in some ways, similar to other work being done in the area of robotic vehicles. DARPA has set up an event called the Grand Challenge to be held next year in which robot cars will race across the Mojave Desert. The idea is to have vehicles see and steer on their own using a complex set of sensors and software. Robot systems are interesting enough in their own right, but in both cases DARPA is heeding to a command sent down by Congress for the U.S. to automate its military force. A Congressional mandate calls for one-third of ground combat vehicles to operate unmanned by 2015. Where the Grand Challenge looks to spur a robot cavalry, the SRMP program is geared more toward creating robot troops. A number of universities, NASA and the Navy are all helping design SRMP vehicles. The modified Segway allows these groups to develop their own software and sensors for the scooter and then plunk a laptop down in the machine to act as its brain. The mission at hand is a tough on
