SERVO 03.2014 27
WE’RE (NOT) IN THE ARMY NOW
Recently, at the Army Aviation Symposium in Arlington, VA, a US
Army officer announced that the Army is looking to slim down its
personnel numbers and adopt more robots over the coming years. The
biggest surprise, though, is the scale of the downsizing the Army might
aim for.
At the current rate, the Army is expected to shrink from 540,000
people down to 420,000 by 2019. At the Symposium, Gen. Robert Cone
(head of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command) offered some
surprising details about the slim-down plans. As Defense News put it, he
"quietly dropped a bomb," saying the Army is studying the possibility of
reducing the size of a brigade from 4,000 soldiers to 3,000 in the
coming years
Robots will likely include autonomous vehicles that can transport
supplies, autonomous aircraft that can transport supplies, and other
autonomous robots that can transport supplies (like the LS3 "robot
mule" pictured here).
STAND BY YOUR BOT(MAN)
Ever since stuff happened at Willow Garage about a year or so ago,
there's been some question as to the fate of the approximately 40 PR2s out
there and those still in stock (yep, they're still for sale). It's not difficult to
imagine that existing PR2 owners and prospective buyers want to be assured
that support is available and will remain available for a reasonable period of
time. If you're one of those people, good news! Canadian company Clearpath
Robotics has been selected to provide PR2 support through 2016.
You may remember Clearpath from such robots as the Kingfisher and
the Grizzly. Seeing as they build a variety of advanced research-grade robotic
systems, they seem like a good fit to do all of the PR2 service and support
going forward. According to a press release:
Willow Garage, the developer of PR2, announces the immediate transfer of
support and services responsibilities to Clearpath Robotics, a leader in mobile
robotics for research and development. Willow Garage’s development of PR2 along
with the Robot Operating System (ROS) has produced the world’s leading mobile
manipulation platform for research and development. Willow Garage will continue to sell its remaining
stock of PR2 systems while Clearpath Robotics now becomes the sole provider of hardware and
software support to current and future PR2 customers.
Clearpath has committed to at least three years of support which will get you and your
PR2 until the end of 2016 in (hopefully) good health. After that, Clearpath will determine
whether further support is warranted, which is basically another way of saying that continued
efforts will depend on whether enough people are still using them three years from now.
