Robot dogs learn bomb disposal tricks in trials You can teach a robotic dog new tricks, it seems, with mechanic canines now being deployed in tests to detect and defuse bomb threats. The trials led by Ministry of Defence (MoD) scientists and carried out at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) involved a number of robotic systems, including robot dogs. It is …
Command your robot dog to "Fetch!". Then watch as it retrieves the bomb and brings it back to you, dropping it at your feet - tail wagging - expecting a treat. Kaboom! Nobody wants their final words to be, "Bad Doggie!"
John Finnemore has an excellent (safe for work)sketch about sniffer dogs Linky to YouTube
But then John Finnemore's Souvenir Program is a work of true genius, and he has a sketch for nearly everything...
Very good shout, his Cabin Pressure series is back on BBC Sounds. I remember listening to the series as Benedict Cumberbatch's career rose in parallel with his character Captain Crieff's, it was a marvel, and rather touching, when his character headed off to greener fictitious pastures while the actor became a Hollywood star.
Cabin Pressure was also... Brilliant. What other word could I use?
And Cumberbatch managed to only miss one episode, while making vast quantities of money in Hollywood. Radio does not pay well - and only gets good people because it can be recorded relatively quickly in the day before theatre engagements - or a couple of epsiodes at a time in the middle of film or TV work.
But the Souvenir Program has so many perfect sketches.
Also, if you noticed it only recently appeared on iPlayer recently - it's being broadcast on Radio 4 Extra at the moment (which I'm sure is why) you can get it elsewhere.
Fourble Linky is a not very user-friendly website with absolutely loads of old podcasts and Radio shows, plus the odd book reading. Much of it is BBC or NPR stuff. It's got all the Clive Merrison and Michael Williams 90s Sherlock Holmes BBC recordings on it. Which are the best Holmes in my opinion. Partly because Merrison is wonderful, but also because Williams' Watson is perfect. He's not played as stupid, just nowhere near as clever as Holmes and sometimes deeply frustrated with him - while still liking and respecting him. They're also, I believe, the only pair of actors to have performed the entire canon, including the short stories.
It also has the Toby Stephens adaptations of Philip Marlow and James Bond that the Beeb did a few years ago - which are quite fun. Though sadly not the McLevy series. For comedy I'd also higly recommned High Table, Lower Orders and In the Red - both top quality silliness from Mark Taverner.
I'll shut up now. Yellow car!
Robot dog destroying a real IED would likely result in the robot dog also being destroyed, if it's the Boston Dynamics version.
Not necesarily. Although this is why they are testing it.
A lot of bombs are disarmed by using a small explosive charge to separate the detonators from the rest of the explosive - hopefully without setting the main charge off - or by breaking up the explosive. It might not even be particularly dangerous to place the charge - the danger lies in going and standing next to the bomb while you do it. Unless there are loads of booby-traps - but they take time, effort and skill that the bombers may not have.
Often this is done with a remote controlled tracked vehicle, about a quarter the size of a small car. But that needs relatively level and unobstructed access to the device, and if it can't get there, then old Muggins has to walk over and do it. Exposing themselves to an unknown timer, sniper fire and/or command detonation of the device. The dog can walk, so can get to many more places. It can be operated remotely in order to place its charge, but does it's walking autonomously. So you get it to place the charge and leave, as you would with either the vehicle or yourself. Then remote detonate your charge and hopefully reuse your robot, or human bomb disposal officer (if they had to do it).
"The mech mut was also eqipped with carbon fire disruptors."
That's a brand name product from CarbonFire, not a generic, in case anybody wondered what "a fire disruptor made our of carbon" is…
Basically an explosive waterjet cutter which cuts through any fusing mechanism faster than said mechanism can initiate.
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