Will the robot become the protagonist on the battlefield

Robots on the battlefield. Even a dozen or two years ago, it looked like the script for another science fiction film.

In 2020, the Kungas family of robotic systems (RTKs) will enter the pilot operation of the Russian armed forces, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

The Magnificent Five

The Kungas family consists of five vehicles of various weights and sizes: a portable wheeled robot reconnaissance weighing 12 kg, a light robot (200 kg), a portable RTK (up to 2 tons), a Nerekhta crewless platform (about 1 tons) and a robotic version armored personnel carrier of the airborne forces BTR-MDM "Shell" (more than 13 tons).

The development of these samples involved more than two dozen domestic enterprises. Wearable robot created in the MSTU. Bauman, light - a product of the Kovrov Plant of V.A. Degtyareva. " At the same enterprise, together with the Advanced Research Foundation (FPI), they developed the Nerekhta crewless platform. The transportable RTK made the Kovrov Electromechanical Plant. Kurgan "Special Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering" produced a robotic version of the BTR-MDM "Shell".

Robots are controlled from a single command post located in KUNG (hence the name “Kungas”) of the KamAZ-63501. In some cases, you can use a special tablet. All products of the family, except the reconnaissance robot, are equipped with fire weapons. They can work, both together and for individual tasks.

The wearable RTK has anti-tank missiles in its arsenal, a 7,62 mm PKTM machine gun, a grenade launcher and even a jet flamethrower. You can install an engineering manipulator on the complex and monitor the terrain. The mobile robot, the Nerekhta and the Shell, are equipped with 12,7 mm heavy machine guns, grenade launchers and anti-tank missiles.

Of this glorious company, Nerekhta is better known. It was first shown to the public at the Army-2015 military-technical forum. The platform has three modifications: shock, artillery reconnaissance vehicle and transport. The FPI presented the characteristics of Nerekhta: carrying capacity of 500 kg, target detection distance - 5 km, destruction range - about 2 km, maximum speed - 32 km / h, armor protection class - fifth.

Uraniums ready for battle

Now the Kungas family of robots needs to earn recognition in the army, which has already received the Russian robotic systems Uran-6 and Uran-9. Both of these complexes took part in the Victory Day parade on May 9, 2018. The American magazine The National Interest called them "revolutionary new."

Uranium-6 works to clear the terrain and create passages in minefields. It was used in the clearance of the Syrian Palmyra. In the same family there is a robot-sapper "Uranus-10". It has more powerful functionality that allows you to mine anti-tank mines weighing over 10 kg.

The crawler robotic complex "Uran-9", designed and manufactured by the Nakhabinsk "OJSC" 766 UPTK ", also passed a combat test in Syria. He was decently criticized for his shortcomings, but the developers (according to the assessment of the deputy chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Igor Makushev) were able to eliminate them. Now The National Interest calls Uranus-9 "the opening era of unmanned tanks».

Ground robots as opposed to unmanned ones drones face big obstacles on the battlefield. First of all, these are terrain folds, forests, buildings and engineering structures that interfere with the command radio signal. The Americans have been developing a product similar to Uranus-9 for ten years, but have not yet caught up with Russian designers. They will deliver their first samples to the US Army no earlier than 2021.

The combat "Uranus-9" is equipped with a 30 mm 2A72 cannon, four anti-tank guided missiles "Attack" and a flamethrower "Bumblebee". The complex allows you to effectively hit manpower and armored vehicles of the enemy.

Design thought knows no bounds

In recent years, many domestic special design bureaus engaged in combat robots. Even the illustrious Kalashnikov concern was distracted from the shooting theme and produced a whole line of robots - Companion, Nakhlebnik, and Igoryok. "Companion", for example, is a combat module on a remotely controlled tracked platform with machine guns of 7,62 and 12,7 mm and 30 mm caliber grenade launchers of the AG-17A type.

And here is a recent example. As Army Commander-in-Chief, Army General Oleg Salyukov said, in 2020 development work on the Sturm project will begin. It includes a promising family of robotic systems, consisting of four samples. The heaviest vehicle (50 tons) will be created on the basis of the T-72B3 tank.

It is planned to install a 125-mm D-414 gun with a shortened barrel, a bulldozer blade and a set of all-round protection against anti-tank weapons on this RTK. The remaining samples of the Sturm project will be equipped with Bumblebee-M flamethrowers, 30-mm 2A42 automatic guns, unguided rockets and a PKTM machine gun. The project is being developed by Uralvagonzavod Corporation.

We are already starting to get used to such robotic complexes. Fantasy goes further - to cyborgs and avatars. Here, designers have so far limited themselves to an exoskeleton. Its development has been conducted since 2011. Two design options have already been tested. Passive exoskeleton - articulated lever mechanical frame, unloading the fighter’s musculoskeletal system when carrying goods weighing up to 50 kilograms. It will be combined with second-generation Warrior gear.

An active exoskeleton is considered promising - with electric motors and a battery. It increases the physical capabilities of a soldier. Allows you to carry weight up to 200 kg, while conducting active hostilities. This exoskeleton has already been tested, and now it is being finalized. It is expected that he will appear in the arsenal of the Russian military by 2025 along with the equipment of the third generation Ratnik-3.

Experts differently evaluate the combat capabilities of incoming troops and promising robot systems. At the same time, many agree that robotics are already reversing the principles of modern combat, but at the same time, robots are still far from replacing 100% robots with robots. Therefore, the main character on the battlefield, the robot, even if "armed" to the teeth, will certainly not become in the coming years. But with time...

Comments

[The leader of the Redskins]

I think it will be necessary to return to questions about combat robots and their application in ten years ... So far, these are only experimental or pre-production models that are used singly in combat operations. Little experience with their use ...

[carstorm 11]

and whether the topic WILL BECOME ?!))) everything goes to this. each such step somehow brings us closer to the fact that war will generally change its face. but it has a negative side. if they stop worrying about losses, then wars will go on much more often ...

[Stas157]

Will the robot become the protagonist on the battlefield

I don’t know how with robots, but hybrid troops will become the main character, or rather have already become. Proxies, mercenaries, vacationers. All those that are not related to the armies of the main interest.

[Pavel57]

Any war is a matter of price. Robots also cost money.

[bk316]

I think the questions about combat robots and their application will need to return in ten years ...

I rarely agree with you, but yes, here you are right.
While there is no AI, we should not talk about any robots. Just in 10 years, something in this direction will be created.

[Chaldon48]

The robot will be able to help break the line of fire and keep the captured bridgehead anyway indulging in infantry and tanks.

[DMB 75]

robotization is already overturning the principles of modern combat, but at the same time, it is still far from 100 percent replacing "living" fighters with robots.

It will, but not in our lifetime ... Not on mine for sure.

[nikon7717]

I read the article, thought about converting all these developments into a peaceful channel. At the same time, management systems would be made for industry. Though for automation of warehouses, a loader is an automatic machine, or a tractor, a bulldozer, with automatic processing of areas. Anything where there is a need, otherwise we see, for example, Volvo, unmanned, and here the analogs are ready. It is necessary to transfer to the peaceful sphere, part of the development.

[Strashila]

The term "robot", logically, it should be a completely self-guided weapon, but we have only in fact complexes with remote control.

[Mestny]

Not only with us. So far, everyone. And not fully manageable. There are offline modes.
Yes, while "go there, check, then report" does not work. But they will move to the right place and fire there on everything that moves from that side - they can already.

[Yrec]

In principle, the question is: will robots be allowed to kill people outside their own discretion? If so, it will be like in "Terminator". Technically, everything is ready - algorithms, signatures, etc. All that remains is to give a legal go-ahead.

[Cat]

It remains only to give a legal go-ahead

When pressed, the legal subtleties will be quickly forgotten.

[VicktorVR]

No, technically, the terminator is still far away. Robots cannot produce robots yet. Especially to develop new ones.

[Mestny]

It will be able to produce enough.
The main chip in their mass character and cheapness.
If this can be achieved, for example, assembly on a conveyor - then everything will be mass instead of people.

[Amateur]

Robots must obey 3 laws invented by A. Azimov:

1. A robot cannot harm a person or, through inaction, allow a person to be harmed.
2. A robot must obey all orders given by a person, except when these orders are contrary to the First Law.
3. A robot must take care of its safety to the extent that it does not contradict the First or Second Laws.

Otherwise, the Shelesyak planet will turn out without people and nature.

[sabakina]

Planet Sheleзyak!

[Amateur]

OK.

according to the administration of the site does not carry useful information

Although it is believed that brevity is the sister of talent.

[Cat]

according to the administration of the site does not carry useful information

according to the site administration, the site administration does not carry useful information (C)

"It's good to be the administration!"
Administration.

[Strashila]

"1. A robot cannot harm a person or, by its inaction, allow harm to be done to a person.", There is already a contradiction, for the robot the principle of "friend or foe" operates, but "alien", this is no longer a person, but a threat that is needed destroy. "your". it is the one who brings caress, cleanliness and lubrication.

[Amateur]

there is already a contradiction

Read "I am a robot" by A. Azimov. There, these 3 laws are chewed on from all sides, incl. when there are not three.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Amateur

Robots must obey 3 laws invented by A. Azimov:

[ximkim]

So far, only complexes: on different platforms, the person at the controls. A full-fledged robot will be in Russia in 30 years .. The use of robots will be in 50 years from 2020 onwards. )))

[carstorm 11]

but let's imagine such a front line. the battle is on. but the mechanisms are beating. and somewhere far away indoors people sit and control their own avatars. and in fact we get a war but remote for people. fantasy? bye yes. but embodiment is entirely possible.

[Mestny]

What for?
Modern warfare is the destruction of infrastructure. It is carried out remotely with the highest possible speed, mainly from the air.
What the surviving natives will do on this territory later is not so important.

[Cat]

War to the last robot is probably better than war to the last person? The question is rhetorical. When the robots end, people will go to battle anyway.

[Mestny]

And robots will end when their production stops. Which will stop at the loss of any production chain.
The robot to do this is not a T-34 tank. Everything is much more complicated here.

[archiroll]

not a robot but a program - I hope our generals come sooner ...

[Aleks2048]

I think that at the present stage of technology development, speech does not even really come to the full replacement of a person on the battlefield with some kind of radio-controlled complex, not to mention a completely autonomous robot.

[archiroll]

There is still a need to consider reptilians - maybe for them this is a way to let off steam from a pot with society, and so you have to pay for the pieces of iron ...

[7,62x54]

Robots must be introduced into the legislative branch, courts and prosecutors. Unpretentious, ascetic, incorruptible. Only for the benefit of citizens.

[Mestny]

This is where it goes. "letters of happiness" are the first signs of such systems.

[Nameless]

But it will be possible to bribe the specialists serving them - to calibrate them in the direction of the "desired" result.

[gridasov]

A robot is primarily an AI and not a mechanization of an autonomous and functionally defined process. This is not understood by many. Therefore, the combat use of robots is limited not by direct contact with the enemy, but by the performance of some limited functional tasks

[Mestny]

Killing an adversary is precisely an "autonomous and functionally defined process" in most cases.
There AI, which tells jokes and writes poetry is not needed.

[gridasov]

It’s like in a computer. Trying to ensure processors increase processors. There aren’t enough sensors of various kinds of detection and actions, and it’s also energetically impossible to provide all this. The human brain is more inventor in the application of variant solutions

[SovAr238A]

Quote: gridasov

A robot is primarily an AI and not a mechanization of an autonomous and functionally defined process. This is not understood by many. Therefore, the combat use of robots is limited not by direct contact with the enemy, but by the performance of some limited functional tasks

Modern expert systems of machine analysis can already control independently mechanized means on the battlefield in order to destroy the enemy while preserving the carrier mechanism itself, or to reduce damage to the mechanism itself.
For this, AI is not needed.

All our specific actions are subordinated earlier by someone understood, described / written by an algorithm for acting in a particular environment / environment, etc.

And for each of our actions - there is an explanation - i.e. ready-made algorithm.
Putting a lot of algorithms under the action of tasks is not such a big problem.


And most importantly, the first to understand this will win the war of the future.

A soldier should not think, he should fight.

And when millions of iron soldiers attack us, we will not be able to escape from them, even knowing. that they are stupid and they don’t have a single gram of that same AI ...

[Mikhail3]

Will be used, of course. In this format, it is possible. The protagonist will never become.

[Selevc]

To fully replace a person with a robot on the battlefield, fellow scientists must first fully understand one such mysterious and incomprehensible human organ - the human brain !!!
Not fully understanding the processes and mechanisms of mental activity, it is very naive to design something smarter than a person !!! But there are a lot of active fools in the world and attempts to create cyborgs are made continuously - but they just join the ranks of "smart buckets" or "stupid pieces of iron"

[Podvodnik]

the incomprehensible human organ - the human brain

Well, you, my friend, swung .... The human brain. We even have a huge distance to the concept of a "bee" brain. We are not yet able to recreate one neuron.
I agree with you about buckets and pieces of iron. You can add another theme for the development of money. That is what is in the foreground.
Autonomous robots don't just run into brains. There is a simpler problem (at first glance) - batteries. No batteries, no robots. Neither smart nor stupid.
If humanity can create AI, it will have the right to stand next to our Creator, since it itself will become a Creator.

[Clueless]

I’ll write for the tenth (or hundredth time) - until there are compact powerful power sources, forget about robots, like exoskeletons.

But there is only a small BUT that is forgotten even more - powerful and compact power supplies are in themselves very powerful weapons, because they will have tremendous energy (saw how ordinary batteries from a cell explode? Now imagine that in such a volume of energy 50-100 times more)

[Brigadier]

Putin’s actions show a clear and clear goal:
- as much money as possible to the army because it protects in the first place his and his power!
- as little money as possible on those who already can't protect his and his power for health reasons and who can no longer be put under arms (example - "pension reform" ...)
Some "ham and caviar", others "no butter figs" as soon as they are no longer needed!
Putin’s usual policy ...

There are 2 articles in the same issue of VO:
"Igor Nikolaev:" Voting Day under the Constitution will cost the country 180 billion rubles "
"We saved on pensions. 20 billion: is that a lot or a little?"
Read ... it will immediately become clear - who, how, and at whose expense plans to further "develop" the country and the "braces".

In a word, "great and sun-faced" with a changed in his favor of the Constitution, was going to continue to row and row in his gallery, to us hmm ... joy, to the enemies - surprisingly!

[Knell wardenheart]

All this rests on a number of points -
1) capacity, price, weight and reliability of batteries. At the moment, all this is not enough for terrestrial stand-alone devices ..
2) Cost of production - multiple simplification of the design and the maximum increase in mass production of all technological parts. A robot includes servos, optics, sensors, microcircuits, communication facilities, etc. Given the military specifics, all this should be too "reliable" and, therefore, expensive and relatively small-scale (and therefore more expensive).
3) Conceptual application. There is a desire to replace a living fighter, there is a desire to reduce the size and cost of the tank, there is a desire to make a mobile autonomous intellectual mine. At the moment, all these developments are rather scattered, there is no understanding of the degree of intellectual autonomy of such devices, there is no certainty that the enemy will not find a cheap and effective counter-solution for the operation that has been started.
4) Resistance to electronic warfare and electromagnetic radiation. The compact and massive design will be quite vulnerable to this - and as a result there is a risk of intercepting teams or disabling a combat unit at the most important moment.

If a fighter can be bullied and stuffed with all sorts of stimulants so that he continues to shoot "to victory" without half his limbs - then this trick will not work with a car - while cannon fodder will be cheaper to use it.

[riwas]

American special forces use a dog as a cyborg. A video camera, radio station is hung on a dog and launched into a house or an underground passage. "Control" the dog is carried out through commands, radio station.
In the future, it is possible to carry out direct control through exposure to the brain in an optogenetic way.
http://www.popmech.ru/biology/196391-distantsionnoe-upravlenie-dlya-zhivoy-myshi/

[grumbler]

It depends on what is meant by "robots". A modern plane flies on its own most of the time, the pilot only chooses "technological programs" (takeoff, landing, guidance, attack, evasion maneuver ...). And what are modern winglets and anti-ship missiles if not "robots" capable of distributing targets among themselves (!) And determining the main target in the order. Air defense systems or torpedoes that find their own target ... Therefore, in a sense, "robots" are already in service.

As for the robot-fighter on the battlefield, it's a bit early. Robots equipped with wheels and tracks have poor maneuverability. Robots equipped with legs, although they demonstrate outstanding permeability and adaptability, are still very complex in mechanics and vulnerable (there are no reliable and accessible "electrical muscles" yet). Robots still have Big problems with "batteries". It is not for nothing that Boston Dynamics are supplying their robotic "mules" with gasoline engines and hydro-pumps.

I'm not talking about the "brains". AI specialists admit that we care about the intelligence of a cat - like before Alpha Centauri. And this is the main obstacle to the introduction of robots in a hostile environment.
As it turned out, to learn to run, balance, jump over obstacles and do somersaults, intelligence is generally unnecessary. For this it is enough that the outstanding robotics engineer Rodney Brooks called "Cambrian intelligence" (which is the basis for the development of Boston Dynamics), but to survive in extreme conditions - to hunt and not become a victim - it requires intelligence.

It seems to me that the nearest the future of "almost autonomous" systems belongs to "swarms" - it is swarms, with a relatively primitive structure of each individual individually, that are capable of demonstrating very complex collective behavior, "collective intelligence", learning ability, flexible dynamic differentiation of swarm clusters. Which can make the swarm very effective and stable on the battlefield, insensitive to the loss of some individuals. This approach is very attractive and economically - to stamp / 3D print relatively primitive, standard, "brainless" devices is much easier and cheaper than creating unique androids that will cost like an airplane.

As for "remotely controlled robotic systems", this will certainly develop. Surely in the coming years, tanks, planes, some ships and submarines will become completely deserted. We should also expect the widespread introduction of auxiliary robots - "mules" for carrying heavy loads over rough terrain, trails, mountains (wounded, cargo and even as carriers of mobile weapons: machine guns, mortars, ATGMs and other "stingers" - especially important for paratroopers, " special forces "," special operations forces ", which must act secretly, quickly and" carry everything with them "). Looking at how in the mountains of Afghanistan the fighters of the USSR and the USA dragged boxes with ammunition, canned food and water into the mountains, you understand that robots - "mules" would be a very significant help to them. Also, of course, various reconnaissance and rescue robots "snakes", "worms" will develop, capable of imperceptibly moving along difficult terrain and penetrating debris, fortifications and move under the surface of the soil / under water.

It is important that in this area the needs of the military and civilians completely coincide: the need for a "snake" robot is absolutely the same for both the military and the rescuers (Ministry of Emergencies, mine rescuers, searching for people under avalanches). The need to remove the wounded from the battlefield is the same as the accurate delivery of the woman in labor (do not shake). It is important here not to focus only on military applications. Then there will be an active influx of ideas, many useful applications and profits.

[gridasov]

Ideas !? In order to hammer into the human mind the idea that in addition to the function of variable value, number exists, and the function of constant value may take a hundred years. Without a fundamental breakthrough that there is a mathematical technology of a fundamentally different method of analysis, namely built on variative and algorithmically related processes, and not on linear calculations, a person cannot even think about the future. Moreover, with the new methods of analyzing big data, rather than sorting the stat data, we can understand that we ourselves are robots. So, first of all, it is necessary to expand the potential capabilities of the brain itself. By developing the brain and its capabilities, we will simultaneously receive the results of its work. Therefore, the function of the constant value of the number is a tool for perceiving the world at a new level.

[SovAr238A]

Uranians screwed up so much in Syria that they lit up once - they took them away immediately from shame and no one has ever praised them and never singed a single defiramb ...

And how many praises before that ..

[GTYCBJYTH2021]

Robert Robot ... the battery will freeze in it ...........