DARPA Has A Program Called “Avatar”

Keith’s note: According to io9: “In [DARPA’s] $2.8 billion budget for 2013, unveiled on Monday, they’ve allotted $7 million for a project titled “Avatar.” The project’s ultimate goal, not surprisingly, sounds a lot like the plot of the same-named (but much more expensive) flick. According the agency, “the Avatar program will develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier’s surrogate.” These robots should be smart and agile enough to do the dirty work of war, Darpa notes. That includes the “room clearing, sentry control [and] combat casualty recovery.” And all at the bidding of their human partner.”

Imagine if the same technology could be used such that astronauts coudl inhabit spacecraft that could also walk across a planetary surface. There are many places where the terrain could not be accessed by use of rovers.