Tight budgets = less robots?
The always interesting P.W. Singer had some interesting things to say
in his article, “U-Turn: Unmanned Systems Could be Casualties of Budget Pressures” (Armed Forces Journal). In an era of shrinking budgets, he worries that funding for unmanned systems will suffer.
“As the Pentagon wrestles with declining overall budget numbers, the new becomes more directly threatening to the old. And in bureaucracies, the old is not only more established, but is often at an advantage in any battle.”
As evidence of his concern, he notes that out of the 25 current costliest Pentagon acquisitions programs, “… there isn’t a single U — for ‘unmanned’ — on the list.” Read more
time; vibrate it all day for days at a time; subject it to altitude variations of 0 to 10,000 feet; operate it in temperatures reaching 130 degrees Fahrenheit; virtually soak the laptop in water for two days; expose it to humidity of 95 percent for prolonged periods. While this may seem like a specially designed test to force a laptop to fail, the truth is that this was an actual situation.”
The C4ISR explosion
dependence on Video Display Terminals. All of us have heard stories of warfighters remotely operating unmanned systems while staring at flickering images on computer monitors. Even manned vehicles are sometimes driven by personnel who use computer screens, so as not to expose themselves to hostile fire. Click 
small part of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Platform support, customization, integration, connectivity, and inadequate durability may make your “bargain” very expensive. Will your rugged computer be good for your ROI five or ten years from now or just for today?
dollars, we’d pay off the national debt. One particular acronym, OPV (Optionally Piloted Vehicles), is popping up all over the place. Northrop Grumman unveiled 
factors besides nits can interfere with the visibility of a screen. Computer displays are usually protected by see-through shielding material (glass or plastic) on top of their displays. How this shielding is bonded to the underlying surface can have a huge effect on the amount of glare (reflection) that is created. Anti-reflective coating on the shielding material can also affect the overall illumination. Even the mounting of the internal components of the computer can affect the brightness. So, it is theoretically possible that a display with a high nit rating will be dimmer than one that has a lower rating. To be sure you get what you want, consult your computer professional.
Richard Lane, AMREL’s VP of Strategic Business Development, penned an interesting article about his rugged computing needs as an environmental scientist when he inspected on-shore /offshore oil production facilities. In the July 2010 issue of 
Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). “We are moving along that spectrum from tele-operating to semiautonomy where you can send a robot from point A to point B without any intervention,” said U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Thompson, project manager with the Robotic Systems Joint Program Office (