DARPA: The place to turn ideas into reality

If you regularly follow news about advanced robot technology, weapons and equipment, . DARPA is certainly a strange name. DARPA is an acronym for the Pentagon's Advanced Defense Projects Agency, USA. Another interesting name given to this agency is "the place of crazy scientific ideas!" So what does this agency do and what research has been done? Is it just a robot for war? Let's find us.

How was DARPA born?

In 1958, the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower officially established the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the goal of developing the most advanced technologies for the country. Initially, the agency took the name ARPA (not from Defense) and was seen as an American reaction to the Soviet launch of the Sputnik artificial satellite.

DARPA headquarters

According to DARPA, their birth is truly essential and essential for the development of defense science and technology in the United States. Since then, many important science and technology events have contributed by DARPA. Typically, the agency has developed ARPANET , the first packet-switching network and the forerunner of today's global Internet. It can be said, this is the invention that changed our world.

In another example, you must be familiar with virtual assistants like Siri or Cortana. Did you know that DARPA had done the Speech Understanding Research (SUR) program in the 1970s in search of technology to understand human voices. This research has played an important role in promoting the voice recognition technology that is widely used today.

How does DARPA work?

Although part of the Pentagon, DARPA is an independent agency that works with the US Department of Defense's research. DARPA employees are divided into small groups led by a manager. Each group will undertake research to solve a specific problem by the group free to seek ideas and organize research to solve problems. In addition, DARPA also pays funding for other technology companies to implement projects that the agency deems promising.

DARPA will fund each group from 10 to 40 million dollars to conduct research. Some projects have received little funding, some other large projects can receive amounts of up to $ 100 million. According to the latest report, the budget for DARPA in 2014 was $ 2.78 billion and in 2015 it will be $ 2.91 billion to "nurture" projects. So with such huge funding, what exactly is DARPA doing? Here are some of the agency's latest, bold and bold projects.

Robot projects

Image of Shakey robot and 2 researchers at DARPA

One of DARPA's first robotic projects was the Shakey robot that started in 1966. Shakey is a versatile wheel-driven machine designed to perform tasks such as helping people turn on and off. With the development of current science and technology, generations of robots manufactured by DARPA are increasingly integrated with advanced technology and not only stop at turning on and off but also possible The ability to perform many extremely complex tasks.

Typically, the Cheetah 4-legged robot line comes from Boston Dynamic company under DARPA with the ability to run at 46km / h. Another case is BigDog, another robot project funded by DARPA for Boston Dynamic. This is a 4-legged robot series designed to carry a lot of heavy equipment and move on various types of terrain including snow ice.

Movies about the testing and operation process of BigDog robots

Along with the four-legged robots mentioned above, Boston Dynamics continues to develop for DARPA robot generation with the same shape and mobility as Atlas. Even according to the plan, ATLAS can walk on its own without having to support it. Although Boston Dynamics was acquired by Google at the end of last year, the terms of the military contract with DARPA still allow it to continue pursuing the robot projects. However, it is just one of a number of promising robot projects that DARPA is directly or indirectly implementing.

Video introducing ATLAS humanoid robot

In addition to self-developing robots, DARPA also organized the Robotics Challenge contest to find and fund the ideas of building robots to win. In the ongoing competition this year, the topic is emphasized that human robot model can perform difficult tasks in areas affected by natural disasters. Initially, the competition seemed to have found the winner with SCHAFT, a robot from Japanese technology firm. Finally, SCHAFT was suddenly acquired by Google and officially left the competition to focus on developing the commercial version.

Artificial limbs and medical technology

Artificial spending is also one of the promising topics that DARPA has been pursuing for years. So far, the agency has spent up to $ 150 million on artificial development programs. The most obvious achievement was in 2006, the first woman who had successfully implanted an artificial arm could control the brain. Not only that, DARPA continues to conduct research to create better products.

In 2013, DARPA implemented a project to create low-cost prostheses. It is an artificial hand with 3 fingers that can sense and send information about the brain. Most recently, in May, the US Food and Drug Administration officially recognized DARPA's artificial arm to be able to recognize and understand many orders at the same time.

Another research aspect of DARPA is not as outstanding as robot technology but in fact, DARPA also participates in sponsoring a number of projects to develop medical technology. Typically, research using brain implants to help soldiers can avoid severe post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Another medical study is to find a foaming fluid that helps stop bleeding immediately when injured. Although the above studies have been carried out for the initial purpose of military use, of course it is still widely applicable to many others.

Military science

Implantable brain implant device to treat traumatic trauma after injury

Of course, developing technology to serve the military is one of the agency's missions at the Pentagon. All of DARPA's research plays an important role in the future development of military science and technology. In 2011, DARPA tested a new generation ultrasound weapon capable of transpacific. Last year, DARPA also signed a $ 6 million contract to develop an ultra-precise laser viewfinder for sniper rifles. Most recently, DARPA continues to reveal a display-type device that allows soldiers to communicate with each other and detect the enemy's location. Or a protective shield that fits in a can of soda but can self-extract to protect soldiers when detecting danger.

Gloves simulating gecko legs help soldiers to climb like spiders.

And DARPA will no longer be DARPA if they don't create things that this real world has never thought of. One of those crazy projects is to develop wall-climbing technology like spider mittens that simulate geckos or design a hybrid bike that can be invisible when performing secret missions. Another project that is equally surreal is Plan X to create virtual weapons that allow soldiers to perform high-tech warfare in the 3D world of the Oculus Rift. When using this weapon, soldiers can shoot down hackers like in a real battlefield.

The device is similar to the smart glass supporting soldiers in combat

In addition to these abstract projects, DARPA also spends a lot of time on unmanned aircraft, the technology is extremely fast. In the most recent project, DARPA is developing a technique to turn old unmanned surveillance aircraft into portable WiFi transmitters to cater to military needs or to control remote combat robots. Or ALIAS program to develop automatic flight systems for military aircraft.

Space

Video simulating DARPA's Phoenix program

DARPA's ideas are not limited to this Earth but also extend to an endless space. One of DARPA's space programs called XS-1 hopes to develop a model of unmanned spacecraft much cheaper than current models. Next is the Phoenix program, which aims to reuse artificially stopped satellites while also sending robots into space to assemble modular satellites.

In addition, since 2002, DARPA has launched the Space Monitoring Telescope program to capture images of small objects in the surrounding space including small but potentially meteorites. out dangerous collision. At the same time, this project is also designed with the ability to destroy enemy military satellites in a war situation.

DARPA: Where the idea will be realized

A national agency that "consumes" billions of dollars each year is aimed at pursuing super-ideal plans that will inevitably encounter many different opinions. And controversy and suspicion are inevitable. In addition, pursuing too many projects will reveal a disadvantage that cannot focus on a key project. This partly makes the project implementation time may be delayed in the future. However, it is clear that with the idea of ​​turning the impossible into possible, every idea at DARPA can turn into reality. Clearly, these will be interesting technologies that contribute to shaping the future world from today.

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