NOVOSIBIRSK, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects is creating a universal android robotic platform that could surpass the western alternative, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.
“We will have to concentrate all our efforts and best minds to create robotic production models that will surpass their western alternatives in key characteristics,” Rogozin stressed during the Tekhnoprom forum in Novosibirsk, Russia today.
The deputy prime minister withheld further details about the project, adding only that any pessimistic speculation about Russia’s loss of leadership in the sphere of robotics are absolutely groundless. “Since Soviet times Russia has laid the groundwork in this sphere,” Rogozin said.
Earlier, a representative of Android Technics, a Russian enterprise dedicated to the development and production of anthropomorphic techniques, unveiled a project planned jointly with the Foundation for Advanced Research Projects on the creation of an android robot.
The robot would be able to work in hazardous environments, including a nuclear site, take samples of polluted air and soil, test them and transfer data over a distance of five kilometers.
Operator will be able to control the robots through a “virtual reality” helmet that ensures stereoscopic vision and data output concerning the condition of the robot or environment, the designer specified.
The first test run of the android is scheduled for 2015-2016 at Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations test sites.
The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects was founded with the direct involvement of Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country’s military industry, as an alternative to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
