Foster-Miller TALON military robot
By: Richard Ellam
What task(s) can it perform?
The TALON is a military robot and is one of the fastest robots in production. It can travel through sand, water, snow, and can even climb stairs. It can transmit in color, black, white, infared, and even nightvision for the operator who could be up to 1,000 m away. Some TALONs have military weapons on them and are called SWORDS.
Rocket launcher version of TALON
Light machine gun version of TALON
Sniper version of TALON in middle
Where is the TALON used most?
The TALON is mainly used to protect frontline buildings from attack. It has been used in over 20,000 EOD ( explosive ordinance disposal) missions in Iraq and Afganistan. It was also used in Ground Zero after the september 11th attacks. It was also claimed to have been used by the U.S. special forces in the war against the Taliban in Afganistan. It has no turn so it has to turn the whole robot to shoot.
Does it have a multi-functional end effector?
The awnser to that is NO. The TALON can either have a gun on it or a robotic arm on it to pick up stuff.
How is it taught to perform its task?
It's controlled by an operator an has no unremote control over itself. Its only taught to do the things the operator tells it to do or sends a message for it to fire, move, stop, pick up, etc.
What type of jobs does it give and what advantage does it have?
It gives out jobs and also saves many lives. The TALON requries a operator and different people to build it. It also saves lives by replacing frontline soldiers with robots that isn't something major to lose, unlike people who could have family griefing over their death. Getting back to the jobs. It gives an oppertunity to someone who likes to remote control robots, or someone who likes to build. Jobs include technician, frame designer, or a gunsmith for guns. All of these jobs contribute to making a Foster-Miller TALON.
Foster-Miller TALON
What inovations could be added to the TALON in the future?
I think in the future they will alter the TALON to fly or even go invisible to sneak up on the enemy, if they ever do make active camouflage. Maybe more arms for multi-tasking or even missiles to fire if needed.