Article describes a DARPA robot that powers itself by gathering and fueling itself from biomass. This is apparently an approach to energy-autonomous recon robots (harvest grasses and plants where it goes) that has amusingly terrifying connotations when you consider the mental image of a chainsaw-wielding robot capturing and devouring, say, people.
It seems that DARPA, which once built things that seemed like the fevered imaginations of a 14 year old boy, is now building things that seem like the fevered imaginations of a 7 year old boy.
Getting worked up over the potential of a DARPA research project is like getting yourself worked up over a popular girl when you were in high school. There's almost no chance those ideas will come to fruition, and on the slim chance something does, it will be in the far off future and nothing like you initially thought.
At the sixth (System of Systems) level, which has not yet been implemented, the 4D/RCS serves as an overarching intelligent control and decision system for (all or part of) a manifold of distributed unmanned and manned platforms, unattended sensors and weapons, and control centers.
Seems to be inspired by the latest Terminator movie. Why do we need more killer machines, are the people in charge afraid that some day humans will refuse to fight for the "just causes" they are presented?
It seems that DARPA, which once built things that seemed like the fevered imaginations of a 14 year old boy, is now building things that seem like the fevered imaginations of a 7 year old boy.