The days when the Army sent in ground troops without robots are long past. At the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, (AUSA) even the trucks were at least partially robotic. As Training and Doctrine Command’s Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins recently said, robot steering offers “advantages that would provide additional protection to forces, or relief, or allow other soldiers to do other things. That’s a key technology as part of the [Force 2025 and Beyond] effort.” With that in mind, here are the coolest robots we found rolling the floor at AUSA:
- HDT Global Micro Utility Vehicle
The poster boy for “you’ll shoot your eye out” military technology, the HDT Micro Utility Vehicle is primarily intended as a hauler, capable of carrying 500 pounds (with an additional 500-lb trailer capacity, so 1000 pounds with trailer). Of course, you can also just stick on an ATK minigun and run for cover, but the Army has said that they don’t want guns on ground robots. At least not yet.
2. Aeroviroment Switchblade
War is hell, but any day that you can shoot a robot out of what is basically a mortar is a great day.
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