More Federal Government Idiocy

Here we have yet another example of our government's "Let's throw away more tax money" policies:

British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.


Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.

Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.

Then they would swarm into the building and relay images back to the soldiers' hand-held or wrist-mounted computers, warning them of any threats inside.

BAE Systems has just signed a £19million contract to develop the robots for the US Army.

A short examination if this wondrous "spider" robot is in order.

1- It will require multiple motors, gears and levers for mobility, a vision system, proximity sensors, plus balance and pressure sensors just to not run willy-nilly into obstacles, stay on course and remain right-side-up, a very extensive computerized brain to handle such a task, and a large power supply to keep it up and running.

2- A TV camera, associated optics and electronics, a GPS system, a transmitter to send all this imagery and information back to the soldiers "hand-held or wrist-mounted computer", requiring even more power to keep it all running. Imagine the size of the battery these things would need. Or will they have a teenie-tiny little nuclear reactor as a power source?

3-Consider the real cost of just one of these little wonders with all it's support equipment, which could easily be destroyed with just one foot stomp by the enemy. Just look at the photograph... the thing must be a half-foot across. How noticeable would a spider twice the size of a tarantula sneaking around on the floor be?

4- Now imagine a "swarm" of these improbable little devices all sending back information at the same time. Talk about information overload. Today's "average" front line soldier would be overwhelmed and rendered ineffective.

The real idiocy of all this... somebody in our esteemed federal government authorized a nineteen million pound contract to "develop" this impossible toy.

The foot soldier has always been the "eyes and ears" of the army. I don't see these things changing that anytime soon.

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