07/26/2010
All Videos have attached articles located below. Please take the time to read the additional information.
Upper Left Video:
Big Dog (A Robotronic Pack Dog)
Upper Right Video:
Training War Dogs
Lower Left Video:
Rescued Dog Kayla
Upper Left Video:
The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth
BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is
a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and
carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives
a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an
animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle
energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or
small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.
BigDog
has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and
handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the
dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and
regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include
joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser
gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the
internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil
temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.
In separate trials, BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load.
BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating
robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on
Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).
Upper Right Video - Training War Dogs
Returning to Serve, Sniff
Sensitive
Noses No. 1 Weapon Against Bombs
By Christian
Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 29, 2009; A01
Rambo sounds the warning as soon as the kennel door at Bolling Air Force Base
creaks open, a ferocious, thunderous bark as loud and persistent as a
jackhammer. In the next stalls, Rocky goes berserk, spinning in tight circles
like a top, and Jess, ears perked, bounces excitedly up and down.
Then
there's Timi. He stays silent, his head bowed, ears bent. He stands motionless,
averting his gaze.
Timi has always been the oddball of the kennel in
Southwest Washington, "the quirky one," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Evans,
his trainer. The dog is also an Iraq war veteran, and according to his medical
file, he has nightmares "characterized by violent kicking." His veterinarian
says he has had "readjustment issues" since coming home -- although not severe
enough to prevent him from returning to the field.
The wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan aren't just forcing thousands of soldiers and Marines to deploy for
two and three tours. The sacrifice is being shared by a key, and growing, part
of the U.S. military: highly trained German shepherds and Belgian Malinois. In a
war with no front lines, they have become valuable at sniffing out makeshift
bombs, which cause most U.S. casualties.
The use of dogs in war,
whether as scouts, sentries or trackers, goes back hundreds of years. But since
Sept. 11, 2001, the Defense Department has increased the number of military dogs
from 1,320 to 2,025, and many have served multiple tours.
Some service
members say the dogs' ability to sniff out bombs and insurgents makes them as
indispensable as a rifle or flak jacket. And they believe that the dogs' heroism
should be rewarded.
The U.S. War Dogs Association is trying to persuade
the Pentagon to create a medal for dogs. Another group is pushing for a military
working dog memorial in the Washington area. And the Humane Society, which
criticized the Pentagon during the Vietnam War, when many dogs were left behind
or euthanized, has credited the military with working to find retirement homes
for them.
Like new recruits, the dogs enter the military through boot
camp, where they learn the canine version of soldiering: basic obedience and how
to detect explosives, navigate obstacle courses and sneak up on a house without
barking. They are exposed to the rat-tat-tat of rifles, loud noises and
explosions so they can learn to stay cool under fire. Although they are taught
to bite and hold the enemy, they are not trained to kill, officials said. By the
time they are ready to hit the battlefield, the Pentagon has invested $15,000 in
each dog.
It's impossible to estimate how many lives the dogs have
0saved, said Master Sgt. Robert Tremmel, manager of the Air Force's working dogs
program at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where the dogs -- and dog
trainers from different branches of the military -- are initially trained.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, "they're finding ammunition," he said.
"They're finding weapons -- AK-47s and caches and a lot of unexploded ordnance.
. . . They're invaluable."
But there have also been numerous accounts
of dogs being used to intimidate detainees during interrogations in Iraq and
elsewhere. One of the most notorious photos from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal
was of a dog handler holding a dog inches from a detainee's face. The handler
was one of two soldiers convicted of using dogs to intimidate detainees.
And officials at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
began using dogs to intimidate detainees during interrogations in late 2002,
after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved techniques that used
"detainees' individual phobias [such as fear of dogs] to induce stress,"
according to a military memo Rumsfeld signed in December 2002.
At
Andrews Air Force Base, which has the largest K-9 unit in the region, two dog
teams recently deployed. In addition to military dogs, 38 contractor dog teams
are in Afghanistan and about 140 dogs across Iraq. Since the 2001 terrorist
attacks, 11 military dogs have been killed in combat, Tremmel said.
Former Air Force Tech Sgt. Harvey Holt and his dog, Jackson,
(officially it's "Jjackson," with the double "J" signifying that he was bred by
the Defense Department) were pinned down by sniper fire in 2006 while on patrol
outside Baquba, north of Baghdad. During a break in the fire, he took his dog, a
Belgian Malinois, through the field to find the sniper. Jackson picked up a
scent, sprinted toward a bale of hay, jumped in head first and pulled the sniper
out by his calf, Holt said.
Like other handlers, Holt, who is now a
police officer in Indiana, was often attached to many different units, depending
on who needed a canine's special capabilities. As a result, Holt didn't form the
"band of brothers" bonds with other soldiers, but rather with his dog. On cold
nights, they shared a sleeping bag.
"We were two heads poking out of
the bag," he said. "If it weren't for the dog, I probably wouldn't have made it
emotionally there. The bond and trust I had in that dog was more than with any
human being." After Holt handed Jackson off to the next handler, he came to miss
him so much that he got a tattoo of Jackson on his left leg.
During his
six-month tour in Iraq last year, Timi, a 5-year-old German shepherd, found
about 100 pounds of explosive material, Evans said, including a 130mm shell full
of homemade explosives.
Timi "is all business," he said. "A real foot
soldier." Tough and no-nonsense, he has always been more reserved than the other
dogs. He took his time eating. He seemed to look at people out of the corners of
his eyes, Evans said, following them. "He's calculating."
But a few
months into the deployment, Timi started thrashing about in his sleep, Evans
said.
"It was almost like he was having a seizure in his sleep," Evans
said. "This was not like he was chasing a little bunny rabbit. He was kicking
the . . . kennel down. . . . When I got him out of it, he'd have that bewildered
look, and it would take him a minute to know where he was. Then he'd fall back
asleep, and it would happen again and again."
For two years, Walter
Burghardt, chief of behavioral medicine at the Department of Defense Military
Working Dog Veterinary Service, has been studying the effects of combat on dogs.
Although he doesn't like to use the term post-traumatic stress disorder with
dogs, war can affect them emotionally, he said. In some cases, antidepressants
have worked, he said, as have more playtime and more time performing the tasks
they were trained to do.
Timi's episodes did not affect his ability to
work, which is when he seemed happiest, Evans said. Since coming home, Timi has
shown great progress, although in the kennel he is more subdued than the others.
Still, Timi is one of the stars at Bolling, and his workload in the
past several months has included trips to Camp David for the former president,
to Paris for the former first lady and to New York in advance of an appearance
by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the "Late Show With David Letterman," Evans
said.
Now he's on his way back to Iraq, the second of what could be
several tours. Army Capt. Amos Peterson, his veterinarian, signed off on Timi's
ability to deploy.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Brandon L. Gaines, his new
handler, said there is no one he would rather deploy with.
"It's written all
over him," he said of Timi. "He's ready to go back."
Staff writer
Josh White contributed to this report.
Lower Left Video:
Rescued Dog Kayla
Adopted by Lynn & Randy Mastin of Winston Salem, NC
Submitted by Perry Money
Lynn Mastin, and her husband Randy are involved
in wildlife rescue, and continuously work with the Humane Society of Stokes County, NC, to
rescue, help, and find adoptive good homes for neglected, and abused
dogs. The two dogs in the video were rescued and are at home in the Mastin household. In the video, Kayla is apparently helping herself to ice from the refrigerator door and seems to be having a great time, too!
Here is more information in Lynn's own words:
McKayla, or "Kayla" as we call her, is our personal
rescue dog. She is a 7 month old Rottweiler we adopted when she was 8 weeks old
from another rescue group. Her mother died two days after she was born of Parvo.
She and one other were the only survivors from her litter of 10. Her original
adoptive parents backed out when they were told she may have a heart condition
that would require medications and that she may not have a long life. We knew
that no matter how long she lived, she needed a loving home, so she joined our
family. We also have two boxers, a 9 year old female, "Zipper" and a 4 year old
male, "Diesel". Kayla has surpassed everyone's expectations. On her 6 mouth
checkup we were told she has a slight heart murmur that would require no
medications and there is no reason to believe she would not live a long and
happy life. As you can see from the video she is a very smart dog. She is our
little problem solver. It only took her a couple of tries before she learned to
serve herself her favorite treat, ice cubes.
My husband Randy and I work with the Stokes County Humane
Society by fostering dogs from our local kill shelter until a suitable home can
be found for them. SCHS works to educate our community about the need to spay
and neuter their pets and help feed them during these tough times. We hold
monthly rabies clinics and other special events to raise funds to help as many dogs
as possible. The next project we plan to tackle is to outfit our 4 law
enforcement canines with bullet proof vests.
In addition to dog rescue, I am a licensed NC State Wildlife
Rehabber. I take in injured and orphaned wildlife. I feed and care for them
until they are ready to be released back into the wild. Needless to say, my
house is always full!
If you are interested in contacting Lynn for more information, the e-mail address is lmastin@stokescountyhumanesociety.com .
Both organizations are non-profit 501(c)(3)
Stokes County Humane Society
PO Box 102
Danbury NC 27016
http://stokescountyhumanesociety.com
Wildlife Rehab Inc
PO Box 24552
Winston
Salem, NC 27114
http://wildliferehabinc.org
