In a recent post, I asked “What has DARPA accomplished in recent decades?” Responses to my questioning of this highly regarded agency generally contained more heat than light, although one thoughtful comment said:
Went to the yearly convention a couple years back for an article I was writing and was astounded at how much stuff they’re doing. There was a robot snake that would be able to crawl into the rubble of fallen buildings (woulda come in handy after 9/11), lots of autonomous aircraft, an unmanned helicopter, new ways of communicating with submerged submarines…the list goes on.
Following that Google trail a bit leads to things like good work on prosthetic arms and a variety of other medical initiatives.
I have another answer as well, that I knew about all along and should have mentioned from the getgo — a very, very cool robotics effort, as per this video of Boston Dynamics’ “Big Dog.” In general, robotics and prosthetics seem to be areas of genuine progress, notwithstanding how slowly one particular initiative, autonomous vehicles, is coming along.
Good. I’m glad to discover that the rest of DARPA isn’t doing as badly as its high-concept artificial intelligence efforts are.
