The U.S. Army could acquire a fleet of 3,000 bomb-diffusing scorpion robots

It sounds like something out a science fiction movie, but it’s not: The U.S. Army may be well on its way to acquiring a 3,000 strong fleet of battlefield-ready scorpion robots.

The robots in question are the creation of Endeavor Robotics, a leading company in developing and building tactical unmanned ground vehicles. Called the Scorpion, the sub-25-pound robots are small enough to be carried in a backpack. Once removed, they can then be powered up in less than one minute and used for carrying out a variety of tasks, including remotely diffusing bombs.

“Once on the ground, Scorpion can travel over rough terrain, up and down inclines, climb stairs, and even operate while submerged,” CEO Sean Bielat told Digital Trends. “It has a unique manipulator arm that can rotate continuously to grasp anything nearby, plus multiple cameras to give its operator various high definition views — [such as] thermal and night-vision — for excellent situational awareness. Scorpion’s gripper provides best-in-class strength for a robot of this weight.”

Another innovative and unique aspect of the Scorpion robot is its lightweight composites body, which can be repaired in the field by soldiers using 3D-printed parts. That means less downtime, resulting in a robot that’s ready for its next mission faster. Its open architecture design, meanwhile, makes it easy to integrate third-party sensors and other devices.

“Scorpion requires a human operator, but does have autonomous capabilities,” Bielat continued. “Its controller includes a number of preset ‘poses’ that the robot will automatically move into with the touch of a button. Additionally, if the robot loses communications during an operation, it can autonomously retro-traverse back the same path to regain communications to keep the soldier up and running. The Scorpion controller also allows the operator to take control of other ground robots, as well as unmanned aircraft, to improve battlefield awareness. We expect Endeavor’s advancing work in autonomy to play a part in future upgrades, which will allow the robot to be even more mission-capable.”

So with all of these qualities, why the doubt about whether the U.S. Army will acquire Endeavor’s creation? The reason is because it’s competing against other robots also hoping to net the $429 million government deal. An announcement from the Army’s Common Robotic System-Individual (CRS-I) program is expected in early 2019. Whichever company winds up scoring the contract, we’re expecting to see...

Morning Mistress

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #462

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside? 

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific, 

from the beautiful to the repugnant, 

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed, 

you could be inspired, you could be appalled. 

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. 

You have been warned.

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Florida Georgia Line Front Man Wants Country Music To Embrace Gun Control

By: Tom Knighton
I expect more out of a Georgia boy. Yes, being a Georgia native myself, I understand that we have our own gun grabbers here in the state, but they tend not to spend a whole lot of time in the rural parts. You tend to find them in the more urban areas.

Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard is from about 35 or so minutes from Atlanta, so maybe that explains it.

The country artist wants his genre of music to embrace gun control.

Florida Georgia Line‘s Tyler Hubbard has thrown his support behind the End Gun Violence Together campaign launched by Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes — and he wants his colleagues across country music to join him.

On Nov. 29, Hubbard delivered an impassioned endorsement of the TOMS CEO’s new initiative. In a solemn video, he referred to the staggering statistics regarding the 307 mass shootings that took place over the last 311 days in the United States and said that he believes that “we can all come together and all agree that something has to change” by contacting congress and demanding stricter gun laws.

A statistic that is total BS, I might add. It’s been debunked repeatedly.

But wait, there’s more.

Now, Hubbard is doubling down on that message and asking his peers across country — including Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift and many more — to get involved, even if it means stepping outside their comfort zones to lend their social media platforms to the cause.

In other words, Hubbard wants all of these artists to alienate their entire fan base by making a stand on something that has absolutely nothing to do with their music but may cost them millions in album sales.

Yep. That’s a winning strategy.

Look, I get that country music is a little touchy about guns following Las Vegas. But that doesn’t mean people like Hubbard get to expect the rest of us to roll over and die so he can pat himself on the back. I hate to break it to him, but his band isn’t going to get more respect because he made a political stance. He might get some slaps on the backs at Hollywood parties, but the people who will applaud his move won’t be the people who are buying his...