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WEBVTT UPS -- DEVELOPS NEW TECHNOLOGY. >> WHEN PEOPLE THINK ROBOTS, THEY MIGHT THINK MOVIES OR MAKE-BELIEVE, BUT IT'S A THOUGHT THAT NOW HAS TO INCLUDE MILITARY. THIS IS WHAT THEY CALL THE ROBORAVEN SO, AS SOON AS IT LEAVES MY HANDS, IT TAKES OFF LIKE A BIRD, AND GOES IN FOR A SMOOTH LANDING ALMOST. IT'S MEANT TO FLY LIKE THIS. IT'S NOT QUITE A BIRD, IT'S NOT A PLANE, AND IT'S DEFINITELY NOT SUPERMAN, BUT IN A WAY IT'S MEANT TO FLY LIKE A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WORK IN COMBINATION WITH A SOLDIER. >> NO MANMADE FLAPPING WING AIR VEHICLE IS ABLE TO DO ALL THESE GREAT THINGS THAT NATURE SHOWS US CAN BE DONE. THE SO-CALLED FLAPPING WING AIR >>THE SO-CALLED FLAPPING WING AIR VEHICLE IS DESIGNED TO MEET MISSION NEEDS. WITHOUT IT APPEARING A SOLDIER IS ON A CELL PHONE OR PLAYING A VIDEO GAME. >> ALL THAT WE WANT IS FOR THE VEHICLE TO BE UP IN THE AIR AND PROVIDING INFORMATION WITHOUT ANY INPUT SO THAT WAY ALL THEY NEED TO DO IS GLANCE AT A SCREEN AND LEARN SOMETHING, AND THEN MOVE ON WITH THEIR MISSION. >> BUT SOMETIMES MOVING ON MEANS MOVING IN. >> WE'RE TRYING TO DEVELOP A TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR ROBOTS TO PICK THINGS UP. I DON'T NECESSARILY KNOW WHAT THE SOLDIER IS GOING TO WANT TO RETRIEVE AND SO THIS TECHNOLOGY IS AIMED AT GRASPING A LOT OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF THING >> THE TECHNOLOGY IS CALLED SELF SEALING SUCTION. TRADITIONAL SUCTION HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME, BUT AS THE RESEARCHERS PUT IT IT'S NOT UNIVERSAL. >> IF I WANT TO USE A SUCTION SYSTEM TO PICK UP SOMETHING VERY SMALL THEN USE THE SAME SYSTEM TO PICK UP SOMETHING VERY LARGE. I'M NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. THIS IS THE SOLUTION >> THERE WE GO. WOW. >> IF I AM A ROBOT THEN THIS IS ON THE END OF MY ARM AND I AM REACHING DOWN AND PICKING UP VERY AS OBJECTS. >> REACHING DOWN OR SWOOPING DOWN FOR QUICK GRAB AND GO. THE DIFFERENCE THIS MAKES IS RATHER THAN GETTING SURVEILLANCE THEY CAN SEND ONE OF THESE INTO A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN'T GO AND ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY EXTRACT AN OBJECT. THEY'RE VALUABLE CAPABILITIES THAT ARE STILL BEING REFINED BUT IMPRESSIVE NONETHELESS. >> WHOA. THAT WAS SWEET. WOW. THAT WAS LIKE THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN. >> BUT THE HOPE IS NOT TO BE SEEN. RATHER FELT.

Advertisement Roboraven to aid military with surveillance Technology being developed at Aberdeen Proving Ground

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When people think robots they might think movies or make-believe. But it's a thought that now has to include the military. At Aberdeen Proving Ground, the military is developing a “roboraven” which as soon as it leaves a person’s hands, it takes off like a bird, and goes in for a smooth landing. The roboraven is not quite a bird or a plane and it's definitely not Superman, but in a way it's meant to fly like a combination of all three. More importantly for the military, it is designed to work in combination with a soldier. "No man-made flapping wing air vehicle is able to do all these great things that nature shows us can be done,” said John Gerdes, a mechanical engineer with the Army Research Laboratory. The so-called flapping wing air vehicle is designed to meet mission needs without it appearing that a soldier is on a cell phone or playing a video game. "All that we want is for the vehicle to be up in the air and providing information without any input so that way all they need to do is glance at a screen and learn something, and then move on with their mission,” Gerdes said. But sometimes moving on means moving in. "We're trying to develop a technology to make it easier for robots to pick things up,” Chad Kessens, a robotic manipulation researcher with the Army Research Laboratory, said. "I don't necessarily know what the soldier is going to want to retrieve and so this technology is aimed at grasping a lot of different types of things." The technology is called self-sealing suction. Traditional suction has been around for a long time, but as the researchers put it, it's not universal. "If I want to use a suction system to pick up something very small then use the same system to pick up something very large I'm not going to be able to do that,” Kessens said. The roboraven is the solution. The difference this makes is rather than just being able to go get surveillance, they can send one of these into a place where people can't go and actually physically extract an object.