WEBVTT

00:09.949 --> 00:12.116
We all know that dogs are a man's best

00:12.116 --> 00:15.050
friend . Well , now scientists at the

00:15.060 --> 00:17.227
naval research laboratory are building

00:17.227 --> 00:19.004
a future where robot dogs are a

00:19.004 --> 00:22.709
sailor's best friend . Ali Schroer

00:22.930 --> 00:25.139
explains the goal of this shipboard

00:25.149 --> 00:27.205
pooch and how it can help the navy .

00:27.500 --> 00:30.299
The whole idea behind it is to toss a

00:30.309 --> 00:32.990
quadruped with an arm on it onto a ship

00:33.000 --> 00:35.111
and have it run around doing standard

00:35.111 --> 00:38.310
maintenance task . So right now

00:38.319 --> 00:40.486
starting off with something small such

00:40.486 --> 00:42.759
as inspection or disinfection and then

00:42.770 --> 00:44.930
eventually working up to something a

00:44.939 --> 00:46.840
little bit more complex like fire

00:46.849 --> 00:50.680
suppression or damage control or just

00:50.689 --> 00:52.856
standard maintenance tasks that a crew

00:52.856 --> 00:54.967
member would normally do . One of the

00:54.967 --> 00:56.911
initial hurdles in this program is

00:56.911 --> 00:59.022
giving the dog its sea legs . So when

00:59.022 --> 01:01.300
you toss a robot on a ship , obviously ,

01:01.300 --> 01:03.356
it has to deal with the movement and

01:03.356 --> 01:05.467
sway of the ship as it walks around ,

01:05.467 --> 01:07.522
which can be kind of difficult for a

01:07.522 --> 01:09.745
human . So for a robot , it's just even

01:09.745 --> 01:11.800
harder . So what I'm responsible for

01:11.800 --> 01:14.022
doing is modifying the hardware that we

01:14.022 --> 01:16.245
have so that it performs better in that

01:16.245 --> 01:18.411
environment . The coolest part is this

01:18.411 --> 01:20.522
dog won't need a leash . So once it's

01:20.522 --> 01:22.689
on a ship , it's actually not meant to

01:22.689 --> 01:22.658
be operated by anyone . It's supposed

01:22.668 --> 01:24.890
to be autonomous . Ideally , we'll have

01:24.890 --> 01:27.268
someone who is familiar with it in case

01:27.278 --> 01:29.500
it needs regular maintenance , but that

01:29.500 --> 01:31.667
should be able to just be a standard .

01:31.667 --> 01:33.500
This dog may have even more uses

01:33.500 --> 01:35.556
outside of just navy ships as well .

01:35.556 --> 01:37.690
The way that we're working on the

01:37.699 --> 01:39.810
software for the local motion side of

01:39.810 --> 01:42.650
things is more for an uneven terrain .

01:42.660 --> 01:44.980
It's an uncertain terrain . So anything

01:44.989 --> 01:48.959
that is not necessarily easily accessed

01:48.970 --> 01:51.290
by a human , even though this program

01:51.300 --> 01:53.620
is in its early days , ay can see a

01:53.629 --> 01:55.851
future where sailors will always have a

01:55.851 --> 01:57.740
four legged friend while at sea .

01:59.599 --> 02:01.599
Obviously , we're starting with one

02:01.599 --> 02:03.821
task so that we have something to focus

02:03.821 --> 02:05.543
on and move forward with . But

02:05.543 --> 02:07.710
eventually it is something that can be

02:07.710 --> 02:09.766
adapted to a wide variety of tasks .

02:09.766 --> 02:11.932
And the way that we're developing it ,

02:11.932 --> 02:14.043
the way we're developing the hardware

02:14.043 --> 02:16.155
and the software is so that we're not

02:16.155 --> 02:18.155
designing ourselves into a corner .

02:18.155 --> 02:18.220
It's really just what we can imagine .