Technology
has greatly advanced in the last years, and as we all know, many major
advances has come from the military. For example, GPS satellites,
they were developed by the US military and now they can be used by
everyone. This is just one example, but there have been hundreds of
inventions that now take part in everyday life that have their roots in
the military. And that is why we look at today’s gadgets used by the
military to see tomorrow’s gadgets that will be in our houses, making
our lives easier.
Top 10 Military Gadgets
A headset designed like a Swiss knife. It can operate in 3 different configurations:
- Low Profile – The headset is connected to the
helmet strap and provides excellent stability and noise canceling, but
non intrusive and designed to provide excellent sound quality both ways
even on the battlefield.
- Headband – Offers great sound quality and comfort
for high noise operations and it allows continuous operation via the
earpiece which has an inbuilt microphone even after the normal
microphone has been detached.
- Maritime – Designed for special covert operations,
this headset is inaudible at distances over 20 inches and can operate
fully immersed to up to 20 meters. It can be attached to a variety of
helmets via its helmet clip, without the need for any other equipment.
This looks like something out of a movie, something that
Batman
or Iron Man would have on their hands. The BodyGuard electric gauntlet
is a great offense and defense weapon, due to its hard outer shell and
the possibility of discharging up to
500.000 V. It also features a laser pointer and a video camera so you can review your video of shocking your opponent.
Nowadays it’s really easy to scan a building without ever setting a
foot inside. The Prism 200c Backpack does it for you with lightning
speed. All you have to do is to place the backpack along side the wall
of the room, and via Bluetooth it connects to your smartphone and it
gives you a fully
3D image of the other side of the wall. It’s made to look like a regular backpack, so it could be used in covert operations.
This can be the biggest life saver of all in urban combat, where
soldiers have to navigate buildings, walls and other obstacles, and if
they could shoot their opponents without leaving the cover of a wall,
then the risk involved will be greatly reduced. Of course, a bend barrel
wouldn’t be such a good idea, so they had to improvise. And the
Cornershot
is what it led to. A nozzle mounted video camera relays a video feed to
a screen on which soldiers can analyze the battleground and take on
enemies with no risk of bringing harm to themselves.
Soldiers now have to carry a great deal of equipment with them. This
puts immense strain on their bodies and can slow them down considerably.
So the need for a machine to carry all that equipment is
understandable. But some terrain can be difficult to navigate by
machines, wheels ca get stuck or not be able to climb stairs, so the
best solution is to create a robot that can walk on legs. The ideal
solution is to look at nature for inspiration, and a four legged
robot offered the best stability without having the need for complex motors and equipment.
BigDog can carry up to 20 pounds of equipment.
Although for now it has to be controlled by a remote, in the future it
will be completely autonomous. The power behind the BigDog is a
one-cylinder gasoline engine connected to a computer, a fiber-optic
laser gyroscope and even an IMU (inertial measurement unit) for keeping
the robot standing on difficult terrains and inclined to up to 45
degrees.
A little friend for any soldier. This little guy can fly off and give
information about what to expect ahead, so that soldiers don’t run
blind into buildings. Imagine a swarm of these bugs flying around and
giving information. They are hardly noticeable by anyone, due to their
small size. Applications of this technology could help search for survivors in accidents and in collapsed buildings.
Like a
bullet proof vest protects the wearer from
bullets, the X-Flex fabric protects from bombs and shrapnel. This
wallpaper can be put any house and transform it into a bunker that can
withstand a bomb blast. A great thing for personal protection in any
case.
The best that robotic arms have to offer, the MK2 offers top of the
line dexterity. This arm could have a great impact in unmanned vehicles
that can defuse bombs. The robotic arm features a modular construction
and unparalleled freedom and dexterity and it can hold upwards of 25 Kg.
A invention that could be implemented both on the battlefield but
also for the Police, giving them the best armour possible. The liquid is
more resistive than other armour materials, such as Kevlar and metal
plates, and at a fraction of the weight. It’s based on a fluid that
hardens when pressure is applied onto it (also known as Non-Newtonian
Fluid). The advantage of this technology over the materials like Kevlar
is that, unlike Kevlar, which is a great bullet stopper, it’s vulnerable
to stabs and slower moving objects. The Liquid armour does not need the
same pressure that Kevlar needs to stop an objective. The molecules
lock together and give it extraordinary strength. Bullet and stab proof
vests made from Kevlar and liquid armour offer ther best protection
possible, the combination of these two materials is truly amazing.
Not a robot, but a tool to make average humans into superheros. The
Exoskeleton gives the wearer great strength and speed. With this
technology, we could have supersoldiers and imagine what this
exoskeleton can do for impaired people.
I never liked the military, but I must admit, their technology has
good potential to help humans, but only if used wisely and towards help
and not mayhem. Many of these will most certainly make their ways into
our lives, or at the very least help protect human lives, either by
eliminating the need for violence, or by removing humans from the line
of fire.
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