DARPA’s LANdroid is a palm-sized, totally autonomous network router on cute little tank treads, says The Register.
The target is to demonstrate a platform that would have a final production cost of $100 per LANdroid at volumes around 1,000 units.
“It’s designed to be used in urban environments which have all sorts of inconveniently placed buildings that block more conventional wireless access points. The idea is that they get dropped by advancing troops, whereupon they wander around at about half a meter per second until they find the most effective place to act as a network node. The bots work together to cover “shadowed” and indoor areas, and if one of them gets blown up, the rest will move themselves to keep the network operational.
This concept is a public solicitation by DARPA. Proposals are due to DARPA by August 16, if you think you can put one together. It’s child’s play for Rodney Brooks. DailyWireless has more on iRobot Warfare.
.gif)
