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| Science & Technology | |
| DARPA plots emergency man-cannon | |
| 2006-05-17 | |
| You'd think that with global terrorist threats and fighting two wars, the US Defense Department would have little time on its hands to start a circus troupe. However, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has filed a patent application for a contraption designed to hurl SWAT teams and other emergency workers onto the roofs of inaccessible tall buildings human cannonball style, New Scientist reports. The lethal-looking device consists of a forward-facing chair mounted on rails that point at an angle of up to 80°. Powered by compressed air, the foolhardy “payload” would shoot up until the saddle reaches the end of the rails, at which point he would flail free skyward. The application is extremely detailed, with proposals for computer control, feedback mechanisms, and valve pneumatics. They don't seem to have considered in as much depth what happens once gravity takes over. But no matter, the designers reckon a four metre high launcher could put a man on the top of a five storey building in less than two seconds. Read the patent here.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 LOL @ everybody. LOL. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-05-17 23:55 |
| #7 Is that a man-cannon in your pants or are you just happy to see me? |
| Posted by: ed 2006-05-17 23:46 |
| #6 D *** It, how can America do this when the world, or at least PRAVDA-MSM, say the Russians and North Koreans are the ones that invented everything!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-17 22:49 |
| #5 reminds me of a Super Dave™ stunt LOL |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-17 20:11 |
| #4 They don't seem to have considered in as much depth what happens once gravity takes over. HAW HAW HAW! Them smarty-pants scientific fellers sure are dumb! Forgive me for raining on your humor parade, Mr. Journalism Major, but at the top of the trajectory, your vertical velocity component is zero. This means the fall is more like jumping down from the apex of your trajectory to the roof. Not the entire five storey drop the article implies. As an aside, people aren't the only thing you could launch. iRobot makes some rugged suitcase sized Packbots. I've seen a demo vid where one was tossed thru a window, caromed off a wall and bounced a couple times on the floor. It then deployed itself and headed off down some stairs sending video back to its controller, shotgun at the ready. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-05-17 19:44 |
| #3 *cough*helicopter*cough* |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-17 19:38 |
| #2 And yes, Armored Segway Brigade would be a damn fine name for a band. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-05-17 19:14 |
| #1 You'd need troops of high caliber. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-05-17 19:13 |