Japanese robots ally to defeat evil Korean robot menace!

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]

Japan companies unite to bring robots to homes
June 18, 2008 - TOKYO (AFP) --Four Japanese companies joined together Wednesday in a bid to create a mainstream market for robots and to stay a step ahead of rising competition from South Korea. The companies -- Tmsuk, ZMP, VStone, Business Design Laboratory Co (BDL) -- said they were forming a loose federation to exchange technology with one another and market their products together overseas...
....Tmsuk president Yoichi Takamoto warned Japan's standing could be overtaken by high-tech neighbour South Korea, which has set a goal of a robot in every household by as early as 2013...more...

Association for Maket[color="Silver"] [sic][/color] Creation of the Future Generation Robots

[Choeki]

I imagine if Japanese companies took the most obvious route and applied their robotics technology for defense industry purposes, they would be able to catch-up and surpass the Korean industry. However, since Korean companies are already marketing (ex. Samsung as of 2006) such robots they may end up missing out on market share before they even have one on the drawing board:

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRKksfKDIto[/YT]

Apparently the latest version is armed with two K-3 (M-249) machine guns and is relatively autonomous, but oddly enough is still not mobile...

[succubusqueen]

From the title of the thread i tought this was a post from takechan!;)

[kurohinge1]

I imagine if Japanese companies took the most obvious route and applied their robotics technology for defense industry purposes, they would be able to catch-up and surpass the Korean industry. However, since Korean companies are already marketing (ex. Samsung as of 2006) such robots they may end up missing out on market share before they even have one on the drawing board . . .

. . . Apparently the latest version is armed with two K-3 (M-249) machine guns and is relatively autonomous, but oddly enough is still not mobile...

The Japanese may have constitutional issues limiting them, or maybe they're just not as open about any developments.

I was surprised to see how far "Armed Unmanned Ground Vehicles" have come:

[SIZE="4"]Robot soldiers ready for real battlefield[/SIZE]

. . . The Mule can fire Javelin anti-tank missiles and has a turret-mounted machine-gun in addition to a digital "eyeball" with laser and heat-recognising target acquisition systems for aiming its weaponry. It is semi-autonomous, using GPS to navigate and localised perception to avoid trees and buildings. Its six wheels are on pneumatic legs, enabling it to climb over cars and barriers.

Within minutes, the formerly deadly intersection is secure.

In just a few years' time, Lockheed Martin will start shipping the Mule to conflict hotspots. The US Army has 1700 on order for 2014. About 15 Warfighter brigades will be equipped with the units, constituting a human to robot ratio of 29:1. Many will be used to clear minefields and carry gear, but half will be armed . . .

. . . In Australia, a company called Metal Storm has adapted the Packbot, produced by its US partner iRobot. The Packbot is usually used to gather sensory data on dangerous locations and has been adapted into a semi-autonomous killing machine called the Warrior. It can automatically fire at three targets in about 1.2seconds, selecting the appropriate munition for each target. Stationary versions of Metal Storm weapons are already used for perimeter security . . .

. . . The only force outside the US with plans to deploy armed robots is the South Korean Army. Last year Samsung announced it had built an armed sentry to be deployed at the border with its northern neighbour. It is essentially a machine-gun turret without the manoeuvreability or firepower of its US rivals. . . more

[Charles]

More info on the UGVs here. Wasn't easy to find.