BEAR Gives Injured Soldiers a Smile

The Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR) is a new robot for the US military intended to rescue wounded soldiers in an active battlefields. It has been developed by Vecna Robotics form in Cambridge, MA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMIU-5fJd6A This robot is much stronger than the average humanoid robot. It can lift up to 500 lbs (~ 227 kg) with its two arms and travel on its quadruple track system in a variety of configurations.  As shown in the video below, it can travel very close to the ground (in order to avoid shots and pass through small apertures) or even balance itself on its two tracks in order to do natural eye-level human interaction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RuVidE73Y8 Although its main mission is to rescue soldiers, it ca accomplish many other tasks, such as helping move ammunition around and other military menial tasks. BEAR has been designed to be an enduring, strong, and ... friendly platform. The friendliness is the rational behind the two little bear ears on the sides of the robot's head. They are intended to calm and comfort the injured soldiers being rescued. As of now, strength-wise, the BEAR can  kick any other humanoid robots shiny metal (or plastic) butt. The only major lacking feature is autonomy; It would be nice to see Vecna integrate PR2's open source code into the BEAR soon. Via BotJunkie.