BALDWIN: How about this? A robot saving lives on the battlefield, I know it sounds futuristic, but it could happen as we learn more in today's "Technovations."</s>BALDWIN (voice-over): It might look a little bit like Johnny 5 from the 1986 film "Short Circuit." But this rumbling robot doesn't need Hollywood magic to drop your jaw or in this case, shake your hand. This is Robo Sally, a bot with bionic powers born at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab. For operators where a motion capture system from the waist up allowing the robot to mimic their every movement, add a visor and they see what the robot is seeing. Their hands and fingers have the dexterity to lift cases, give a thumbs up, even diffuse mock bombs and they could take humans out of harm's way.</s>MICHAEL MCLOUGHLIN, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: If you had a vehicle checkpoint, we could stop the vehicle, the robot could take the driver's license from the driver, go to the back of the vehicle, open the doors. It can take things out. If it finds something that's a concern, it could investigate it.</s>BALDWIN: With funding from the Department of Defense and interest from the U.S. Navy, we could start seeing Robo Sally earn its stripes in the most valuable way possible.</s>MCLOUGHLIN: The first time that Robo Sally goes out into the battlefield and is completely obliterated by an explosive device, that's the time we've saved a life.
Robots May Save Lives On The Battlefield