Command, Control and Communications, Computers and Intelligence

Command, Control and Communications, Computers and Intelligence

The beep beep beep of Sputnik, which I listened to over ham radio which it
transmitted at high frequencies, was the clarion call to our government to
ratchet up technological innovation and we did. It was during that time
when I worked in Washington - in 1958-59 a small, then obscure agency was
established in the DOD. It was called ARPA (the Advanced Research Projects
Agency). Later it became known as DARPA.

It was DARPA that provided the funding for the Internet and today still
funds critical research for technology. Companies that could not risk
funding projects which seem impractical have gotten their funding for
those, sometimes, wild-eyed technological ideas.

Referred by some as the second coming, robots which first made an
appearance in the 60s for industrial assembly lines are scheduled to
return again. Today with funding from DARPA, scientists are designing
human-like robots with skin, eyes that move, facial expressions and speak
like real people.

* When I was a cryptologist in the 60s we used robotic voice security with
synthesized speech which was sometimes difficult to understand and all of
them sounded exactly alike.

Newly designed robots will interact with us and will look like humans.

"This will be bigger than the automobile market in 20 years," says
Takayasu Sakurai, professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of
Industrial Science. (Dr. Sakurai and his team have developed artificial
skin for robots.) - (reported in The Christian Science Monitor, Feb 5,
2004)

"Sony's QRIO, which stands for Quest for Curiosity, can sing and dance.
Recently, Sony added the ability to run 15 yards a minute, lifting both
feet for an instant - an ability that Sony claims is the first for a
robot. If QRIO falls, it can look from right to left and back to the front
before bending its elbows and knees to push itself upright. The
23-inch-tall QRIO, which looks like a friendly astronaut, also has a video
camera, sensors for balance and posture, and a CD player. Sony does not
plan to sell it." (ibid)

"In the fall of 2000, Honda debuted its ASIMO robot, which stands for
Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. It was one of the most advanced
walking robots at the time. Twenty-six motors help the 4-foot, 115-pound
machine climb stairs and turn corners. Honda is currently working to make
the robot more intelligent. It walks 1 mile per hour, but eventually could
walk three times as fast." (ibid)

Artificial Intelligence is a field moving forward quickly.  And robots
with human skins evoke all kinds of interesting applications.  Goodbye to
plastic dolls and dildos. Hello to robotic sex toys.

"Rodney Brooks, head of the MIT lab, has said the state of robotics now is
where computers were in the late '70s, when they were confined to labs and
hobbyists and were clunky and expensive. A Sony executive has reportedly
estimated that if QRIO were to go on sale right now, it would cost about
the same as a luxury car." (ibid)

"The (Mass Institute of Technology) MIT lab has developed a family of
robots, including two famous, but now retired, ones: Cog, which tried to
mimic the senses and movements of humans, and Kismet, a mechanical head
with large, expressive eyes and facial features devised to socialize with
humans...The lab is working on new robots that improve on Cog and Kismet.
The most recent is Cardea, a personal assistant that, among other things,
can open doors...Cardea moves using the base of a Segway Human
Transporter. The Segway, a scooter with a wide base and two large wheels,
was created by inventor Dean Kamen. MIT and 14 other universities
developed robots that could sit atop Segways for a project sponsored by
the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)." (ibid)

"Cardea is being designed to work with humans, and future applications
might include an assistant for elder care, a host robot in buildings, and
a personal assistant for office work. It has one arm, but eventually will
have three and will be able to manipulate objects while in motion. Two of
the arms could carry groceries, for instance, and the third could open a
door." (ibid)

"The University of Tokyo recently reported advances in creating an
artificial skin for robots. The skin is made up of several layers,
including a plastic film, a rubbery material, and a thin metallic layer.
The skin is flexible and has 1,000 embedded organic transistors,
electronic parts that can sense pressure." (ibid)

"The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is designing
robotic systems for the disabled or elderly, a surgical robot system, an
assistant for the disabled in the workplace, and a service robot. The
center will receive $1 million annually for nine years from the Korean
Science and Engineering Foundation." (ibid)

"Kazuhiko Kawamura, director of the Center for Intelligent Systems at
Vanderbilt University, is focusing on how robots learn and communicate
among themselves. Vanderbilt also developed a robot for the DARPA project
using the Segway machine." (ibid)

Robots are also be taught human behaviors including the ability to
communicate with each other. And virtual reality technologies and robots
are being used to improve the art of war. Besides being used for training,
they are also being developed and used in battle as an
instrument of war.

"A U.S. infantryman crawls through a swirling sandstorm in a hostile
Mideast country. Ordinarily, visibility would be limited to just a few
yards. But by looking through special virtual-reality (VR) goggles, he
can penetrate the sandy haze and see the exact location of a company
of enemy tanks and mobile missile launchers - and get distance
readouts and terrain-mapping information as well. Not only that: As
the soldier turns his head, the computer-generated images in his
goggles shift accordingly." (R & D  | February 1, 1997  | Agres, Ted)

"The soldier is (today) "wired" into a seamless network of military
information and intelligence. Sensors attached to his headgear transmit a
secure stream of data from his forward ground location back to a secret
military site in the U.S. This information is combined with that from
other real-time ground forces, overhead spy satellites, and unmanned
reconnaissance aircraft." (R&D)

"The data are analyzed and integrated into existing databases and
transmitted back to the field. In a matter of minutes, a joint strike
of U.S. ground and air forces will wipe out the enemy tanks, missiles,
and soldiers. American battlefield casualties: none." (R&D)

In modern warfare, "Command, Control and Communications" is NOW (also) 
referred to as "Computers and Intelligence".

Hank Roth

From the Crypt - http://inyourface.info/crypt/