What you see above is a laser beam striking and tracking a point at the front of a rocket to destroy it mid-flight. The beam is from Lockheed Martin’s newly developed ADAM high energy laser (HEL) system which is taking out that rocket from a range of 1.5 km, as you will see in the video below.

The rocket is completely destroyed as you can see in the image:

ADAM or Area Defense Anti-Munitions is a system capable of nullifying attacks from unmanned aerial vehicles or rocket attacks from the ground. It can track short-range target from a distance of 5 km to destroy it when it’s in a range of up to 2 km. It could be very useful for protecting assets like military bases near the battlefield.

The video shows an ADAM prototype destroying a “Qassam-like” rocket. You will be able to clearly see the laser striking and tracking the rocket to eventually take it out.

It’s, of course, being developed to protect humans and military stuff from missiles, but why should they fire a rocket in the first place. It’s sad to remember that this will deal mostly with war. Why don’t they develop and keep this tech for some good use in the future, like helping NASA and Harry Stamper to take care of an extra-terrestrial threat.

[Source]

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DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program, which was announced back in 2010, aims to build a robot that can do a variety of manipulation tasks with minimum operator input. One of the toughest tasks for the hardware team is developing a reliable and low-cost hand for the robot. iRobot and researchers at Harvard and Yale appear to have come up with a solution.

Their hand that you see above has fingers capable of surviving hits from a baseball bat and that can lift 50 pounds as you will see in the video. From a basketball to a pin, its three fingers can pick up a variety of objects. And it costs just $3,000. In comparison, the average cost of a military-grade robot hand in 2010 was around US$50,000.

But a lot of research and development is still left in the ARM program. While the hardware team will focus on building a complete robot, many others will be working on AI software which will require some serious work.

The software system must enable the GFE (Government Furnished Equipment; i.e. the robot) to perform the Challenge Tasks following a high-level script with no operator intervention. For example, the operator would issue a command such as “Throw Ball.” That command would in turn decompose into a sequence of lower-level tasks, such as “find ball,” “grasp ball,” “re-grasp ball, cock arm, and throw”.

Check out the video below to see the hand in action. It’s not creepy like an earlier DARPA product.

[Source]

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This is one of the larger versions that they’ve created to date, measuring 5 feet 7 inches across and weighing 170 pounds. The project was funded by the US Navy, presumably because the military has some interest in using this technology for surveillance or other purposes, but the researchers see how this could be used effectively for ocean monitoring or the cleaning up of oil spills. An earlier version, called RoboJelly, was about the size of a human hand.

The Cyro robot itself has eight mechanical arms extending from its central water-sealed brain and then a silicone skin is laid on top of that. The movement of the Cyro is similar to that of a jellyfish, which is incredibly efficient. They hope that as they improve the design, the Cyro will be able to head out on its own for months at a time. Indeed, the larger the model, the longer the range it could have.

Check out the demo video below, which includes an interview with VT College of Engineering graduate student Alex Villanueva.

[Source]

The post Video: Cyro Jellyfish Drone Prepares to Invade the Oceans appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Designed by Prox Dynamics of Norway, the Black Hornet is four inches long, one inch tall, and weighs 16 grams. There’s a tiny camera mounted on board that can send pictures and videos back to a handheld receiver up to a kilometre away, allowing soldiers to gain information about an area without having to directly risk the lives and safety of soldiers that would otherwise be tasked with that mission.

It helps that the Black Hornet is incredibly tiny and flies nearly silently, navigating its way around buildings to see if there is any danger. It can only fly at a maximum of 10 meters per second and the battery pack only lasts about 25 minutes, but that should be enough for some basic recon. It can act as an R/C helicopter or it can act as an autonomous drone based on GPS.

Yes, it’s expensive, but that’s military-spec tech for you. It’s ruggedized to handle the harsh conditions of the battlefield, including extreme heat and wind. The UK Military of Defense has placed an order for 160 units, totalling 20 million GBP. That works out to about $31.3 million or about $195,000 each.

[Source]

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Former US Navy lieutenant Christopher Dorner was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for lying about a fellow officer accused of misconduct and he is now seeking revenge by “killing officers and their families,” according to his Facebook page. He has already shot and killed the daughter of a former LAPD captain, as well as her fiance. He was also involved in a shootout with police shortly thereafter, wounding one of the officers at the site.

Dorner is now thought to be hiding out in the San Bernardino mountains near Los Angeles as the plans to “utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordinance and survival training” he’s been given as he prepares to “bring warfare” to the LAPD. As a result, a task force of 125 officers are continuing their search for Dorner in the mountains, but they realize that searching on the ground is “like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

The drone or drones being used don’t appear to be carrying any lethal weaponry. Instead, they have thermal imaging cameras that the task force hopes will be able to locate Dorner in the snow-capped mountains. Dorner is now the first human target for a remote-controlled UAV on US soil, at least officially. Does this create for a slippery slope for future, potentially dangerous situations? Dorner says that he is prepared to use a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile to “knock out” any helicopters to pursue him, so in the interest of protecting the officers in this chase, perhaps the drone is the safest option?

[Source]

The post Drones Used to Hunt Man on US Soil for the First Time appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Navy completed their first steam launch catapult with the X-47B pilot-less aircraft. The same catapult system is what will help this aircraft take off from aircraft carriers in the middle of the ocean.

After watching the video (below), it seems like the ground controllers were very happy with the successful launch. In addition, for a pilot-less aircraft,  the X-47B took off and landed flawlessly.

Take a look:

Un-manned aircraft and drones have become very popular in the military. Now that they can successfully take-off and land with the aid of slingshots, the sky (and ocean) is the limit for drones.

The X-47B has a wingspan of 62 feet, is only 10 feet tall,and weighs 14,000 lb (6,350 kg). The X-47B also has a cruising speed of 0.45 mach (342 mph), a range of just under 4,000 kilometers, and a service ceiling of 40,000ft.

The X-47B will make its first sea trials aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. Sometime in 2013, the U.S. Navy plans to catapult and recover the prototype aboard aircraft carriers.

[ Source ]

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Although this review was done on an Android device, the iOS version is very similar.

A lot has changed on the mobile market since the first Contract Killer was released, and with top notch games like Dead Trigger being available for free download, does the same style gameplay from Contract Killer 1 & 2 have a place on the market? Even with the very restrictive on-rails gameplay, Glu has done a lot of things right to make sure Contract Killer 2 plays more realistically whilst still being able to play on relatively outdated hardware.

Gameplay and Controls

Everyone should be familiar with a first-person shooter by now, and Contract Killer is just that. Controls are not too confusing and there are buttons on the screen for reloading, switching weapons and hiding behind cover. On top of the consistent button overlay, you’ll get different prompts on screen that allow you to run to different cover positions or take out enemies with melee attacks.

Contract Killer 2 has improved from the first game, and Glu have managed to make the player feel a lot more involved via the different gesture commands and controls.

The different contracts in the game vary from having to take out a certain person to defusing bombs, but when it comes down to it, Contract Killer 2 is very much about killing everyone on sight. When you first start a mission, enemies will not notice you, and in some occasions you can sneak from cover to cover and take out unsuspecting enemies using melee surprise attacks. However, most of the time you’ll be on a canopy or rooftop and will take out enemies with your weapons from a distance.

When you take your first shot, enemies will retaliate, and as you progress through the game, you’ll usually come across more waves and tougher enemies to fight against. An interesting feature Glu has added allows you to pinpoint your targets so that you can see them more clearly without having to zoom in on them, but in most missions you will have a timer, which if it reaches zero, you will fail the mission and have to start again, so for the most part the pinpoint feature is merely a gimmick.

Experience and Equipment

What Contract Killer has done well is the experience system. You’ll get rewarded exp for completing contracts and after levelling up new equipment and weapons may become available to you within the shop. The shop consists of a few varieties of weapons, although the snipers are the clear choice here, and with many weapons you can add different attachments and scopes, as well as being to upgrade the weapon stats with cash earnt from completing contracts.

When you level up, you’ll be given Glue coins which can be spent on a few items that would otherwise be unobtainable, and you can also purchase Glu coins with real money. Some items are quite expensive and are practically impossible to earn without buying in-game cash, however no item is particularly game-breaking, so it’s not too much of an issue.

Graphics and Audio

Although the 3D graphics aren’t of the highest standard, they’re acceptable, and like mentioned before, the lower quality graphics will most likely mean better compatibility with older devices which is always a bonus. The 2D artwork and cut scenes in the game are very-well illustrated though, and if you can cope with the not-so appealing 3D gameplay, you’re in for a treat. The audio is at a similar quality to the 2D images, and you’ll hear occasional talk and chatter between you and your contractors throughout the game. The story is not too well-detailed, but added dialogue definitely adds a sense of purpose to the game.

Summary

Pros:

• Varying mission objectives
• Great customization options and leveling system
• Freemium content isn’t too groundbreaking
• Gameplay is not too fast-paced or difficult

Cons:

• 3D graphics aren’t super impressive
• Gameplay is a very “on-rails” experience
• Contracts feel a little repetitive
• Leveling does become slow after a few hours’ worth of play

Download Contract Killer 2:

On iOS

On Google Play

The post Contract Killer 2 Game Review appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Do you remember in the Matrix movie when the crew was getting chased down by those flying squid-like sentinels? Do you remember how they said their only weapon against their mechanized foes was an EMP, or an electromagnetic pulse? Well, now Boeing has developed a missile with electronic-killing EMP-like capabilities, knocking out computers and electronics as it flies overhead.

The good news is that the microwave pulses being blasted out from the missle are non-lethal, so it’s really just the computers and other electronic equipment that it’s killing. Boeing calls it the CHAMP, which stands for Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile (I’m not really sure where the P fits into that). Considering how everything relies on electricity and electronics, knocking out the defense systems and computers of your enemies can be positively crippling.

“In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive,” said Keith Coleman, program manager on CHAMP for Boeing Phantom Works. In the real world test, the CHAMP was able to not only knock out banks of PCs, but even the cameras that were being used to record the test. “We took out everything, it was fantastic.”

[Source via Boeing]

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Yes, this is nowhere near as sleek as the Google Glass concept, but the HC1 is not being targeted at the stylish consumer market. Instead, this is geared more toward industry, military, aerospace, aviation, utilities and other similar commercial applications in the field. And when I said it runs on Windows, you’re not going to get the tiled interface of Windows 8; instead, this is running on Windows CE 6.0 Professional with a custom speech recognition engine.

The display is mounted on a short arm, placing it just in front and just below the user’s eyeline. What you see is equivalent to a virtual 15-inch panel and it runs at a SVGA 800 x 600 resolution. Other key specs include the energy-saving 800MHz OMAP3 dual core processor, WiFi-b/g (no wireless-N? seriously?), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, USB, and a 9-axis head-tracking accelerometer. There’s also a mountable 2MP webcam on the other side so the user can show what he’s seeing. That’s not unlike the sample video we’ve already seen from the Google Project Glass prototype.

We’ve had wearable displays, like those from Vuzix, for some time already, but it’s another thing altogether to wear a complete computer as a headset. I wish the Motorola HC1 looked more elegant, but I guess this could be well-suited for the Sam Fisher types. Pricing is in the $4,000 to $5,000 range with discounts offered for volume purchases. It should be noted, though, that this is being offered by Motorola Solutions and not the Google-owned Motorola Mobility.

[Source]

The post Video: Motorola HC1 “Google Glass” Wearable Computer Revealed appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’ve all been told that it’s dangerous to shine a laser pointer straight into someone’s eye, but that’s just with the laser pointers you can pick up at your local dollar store. Now, imagine far more powerful laser dazzler weapons–using multiple wavelengths–that boast enough energy to pop a balloon. This can cause pilots not only to get distracted or temporarily blinded, but they could even suffer from more permanent eye damage. In fact, the US FAA says that there are over 2,000 incidents each year where pilots have lasers pointed at their planes.

Protecting pilots against one wavelength at a time just isn’t good enough, so the UK MoD turned to Thin Film Solution, based out of Glasgow. The resulting prototype has a composite structure where the polycarbonate layer has a special light-absorbing dye. When bonded with the glass lens, the wavelengths can then either be filtered out or reflected out, helping those pilots retain their optimal vision. They’re still working on it, but I can see how these laser-filtering goggles can become standard issue for at least all military operations.

[Ministry of Defence via Source]

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