iRobot to Develop "LANdroid" Mechanized Network Hotspots
Here's your taste of future war this morning: iRobot, of Roomba and military PackBot renown, has gotten approval from military R&D agency DARPA to construct prototype robots they're calling "LANdroids." Each tiny, tank-treaded robot will act as a node in a wireless network, capable of positioning themselves intelligently to fill holes in coverage areas in urban environments. The hope is to make them small and inexpensive enough to be essentially disposable.
Except for the limitation of being battery powered, I could almost see these working for homes, too. It'd be great to toss out a little robot who would wander around the house until it discovered where I most needed additional Wi-Fi coverage.
As for the pitiful people who have to fight our increasingly autonomous armies, they'll have dozens of tiny new targets to try and snipe. Time to work on EMP grenades, insurgents!
Press Release [Robot Stock News via BotJunkie]
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These may be disposable, but are they secure? I wonder how long it would be before a hostile captures one and either cracks its frequency to jam the others or reverse engineers it to work to their advantage. They could even turn them into mobile IEDs.
Are these the same as those little wheeled-lunchboxes on the Death Star?
No, but this is close enough.
I'm sure security is something they are looking at VERY closely as it is a legitimate concern. I would have to assume that the radio itself would use the same type of frequency hopping currently used in military radios to prevent location tracking or jamming as well as the ability to quickly erase all embedded software and keys if somebody tampers with the device. Even if one is compromised, the hacker would have very little time to crack it before a new crypto set is distributed.
As far as their use as an enemy IED is concerned, the picture depicts them as equivalent in size to a deck of playing cards. I doubt the motors on this thing have enough power to move a payload large enough to do any real damage.