Gizmodo Australia » israeli

Israeli Institute Plans Battlefield Medevac UAVs

Gizmodo US Edition — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:20:00 +0000

You may think someone over in Israel’s Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies had been watching one too many episodes of The Jetsons, but no… this is a real project. It looks like an Israeli consortium, led by the Fisher Institute, is attempting to put together the world’s first unpiloted battlefield resupply and evacuation aircraft, dubbed “MedUAV.” And as the strangely 1960s sci-fi concept drawing shows, it could take the form of a ducted-fan VTOL air car.

The landing-to-evacuation time could be as short as 45 seconds, which would be good news for battlefield casualties needing attention, and for medics who’d otherwise risk coming under fire when attending the conventional way. The patient pod could even include sensors and a comms system so that doctors could interact with the patient mid-flight.

The Fisher institute is planning on achieving initial test-flights in just 24 months, which sounds like a pretty aggressive schedule, though the first model may start off as a fairly simple UAV. The vehicle would have a 4-person payload and fly up to 10,000 feet, managing speeds of 150 knots. Does that sound like a safe operational envelope given what we know can happen to UAVs? [Fisher Institute via Danger room]

Real-Life Edward Scissorhands Cuts Hair With 10 Scissors At Once

Gizmodo US Edition — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Sorry, Johnny Depp. You were great in the original Edward Scissorhands, but this real life maestro of the blades from Israel puts your whole emo trip through suburbia to shame. And while hairdresser Danny Bargil lacks the hotness of a sidekick like Winona Ryder, and he can’t kill a man with his bare feet a la Adam Sandler as the Israeli commando hairdresser Zohan, he makes up for it with the fact that he’s flinging 10 sharp things at a person’s head and they leave with both ears. Reuters got some video of the man in action, after the jump.

At 10 blades, Bargil’s attempt is a world record, and bests the best of what the Japanese had to offer in 2006 with an all-in-one 9-blade pair of scissors. Finally, just for kicks (pun totally intended), here’s Zohan, that other kick arse Israeli hairdresser.

[Reuters]

Israeli Military Guardian Vehicle is Like the Batmobile Without Batman Driving

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Other than taking obvious influences from the Tumbler from Batman Begins, this Israeli Guardium unmanned patrol shares more in common with the iRobot PackBot than Batman’s roof-hopping car. The Guardium can either be self-controlled or steered by an operator miles away, and is loaded with cameras, night-vision sensors and machine guns. Unlike the PackBot, which demands that a human be in the loop at all times, the Guardium can be autonomous if the need arises. Let’s just hope its programming is really, really good and it doesn’t go off killing because it thought it saw a ghost. [Fox News via NewLaunches]

Israeli Military Wants to Build Artificially Intelligent Missile Defence System, a.k.a. Skynet

Jason Chen — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:31:11 +0000

If news of the Israeli military developing a robotic defence system that’s completely AI and human-independent doesn’t scare you, you haven’t watched as many Terminator movies as we have. Their system, which defends against attacks that would “exceed physiological limits of human command,” is described thusly.

…supremely oriented, highly intuitive virtual coach-cum-battle manager whose primary mission would support system operators and commanders during engagements. As such, the super system would help Israeli air defenders pick the optimum timing, sequence and targets for specific interceptors.

The good news, which luckily we read right before crapping ourselves for the third time today, is that the developers aren’t focusing entirely on making it autonomous, but a sort of hybrid.

“Our approach cannot be based exclusively on man-in-the-loop, nor can it rely only on the opposite. Rather, we need to build an operational concept and a system that is flexible and situationally dependent,” Milo said.

In the future, and “under very complex scenarios,” Milo said, the envisioned super system would be able to generate a level of supreme situational awareness and snap intuitive capabilities that could surpass the very best wartime commanders.

Nevertheless, if we’re all killed by an AI system in 20 years, you know who to blame. [Wired]