US Army picks Alex, a ballistic-protected humanoid robot, for xTech
Alex, a humanoid robot from Florida's IHMC with ballistic protection, is one of five winners of the US Army's xTechHumanoid competition.
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giftdetect· the right gift in minutesThe US Army has named Alex, a humanoid robot built by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), one of the five winners of its xTechHumanoid competition. The goal is to find machines that can take on tasks that put soldiers at risk.
Alex stands out for its ballistic protection and for combining artificial intelligence with human control, which lets it operate in difficult scenarios. It has 29 joints and movement mechanisms designed specifically for uneven terrain. It is not yet part of any operational military unit.
Built to work outside the lab
According to IHMC's documentation, the robot carries its own processing systems, sensors and power supply. That means it can work outside facilities prepared for this kind of machine. Its developers want it to move through buildings, clear obstacles and reach places with stairs or rubble, where sending a person could be considerably dangerous.
A competition with broader aims
xTechHumanoid received 103 proposals, and its finalists gathered at the Quantico military base in September. Besides the IHMC humanoid, prizes also went to technologies for energy storage and generation, tactile sensors and control software. The Army wants to use these efforts to speed up the development of new tools.
The Army has not detailed what impacts Alex's protection can withstand, nor has it confirmed any future deployment. Interest in military humanoids is not limited to the United States: a Reuters investigation in September found that China is studying military uses of humanoids, ranging from reconnaissance to operations in urban environments.
Most of these projects remain experimental. Still, Alex's selection shows how keen armed forces are to develop machines that could accompany soldiers or enter especially dangerous areas ahead of them.
Apps worth a look
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