In the video, provided below, you can see how the sniper was shooting at a moving robot. But this is not the beginning of a global war between humans and robots; it is a training ground for practicing skills, military sniper Special Forces army Australia. This ground, in the form of a small village, inhabited by robots, manufactured by Australian company Marathon Robotics. The basis of these robots is self-propelled autonomous robotic platform Seaways RMP 200, on which the human figure, made of plastic.

Due to the functional management Marathon robots can act like terrorists, hostages, or just strangers, civilians, their behavior and movement in the streets of the polygon are not much different from the behavior of crowds in the appropriate conditions. It’s all taken together, allow soldiers to practice sniping from military weapons to use these weapons in conditions as close as possible to real conditions.

Robots Marathon, thanks to specially developed software, moving, imitating the movement of people, for example, starting to accelerate, the robot body leans forward. A laser scanner and rangefinder allow robots to avoid collisions with other robots, people or obstacles. Each robot is connected to the central control computer via wireless connection, allowing the entire group of robots to act together, performing tasks or playing a scene.

Man, the programmer behavior of robots can create virtually unlimited number of scenarios and switch them during the workout just the touch of a button, making it more difficult, therefore, a training assignment. Tools programming robot behaviors are sufficiently developed that would use them to program the robot to imitate human behavior, exercising, for example, purchases in the market, a man seeking a lost child or a terrorist, laying a bomb in a crowded place. With robots may even rush helter-skelter after being hit by a sniper in one of them.

Building the platform used Seaways armored, so it can withstand a direct hit with no loss of sniper bullets. Actually the whole system is fairly simple, and consists of a minimum amount of equipment. Because of this, deployment of such a training ground practically does not require a specially prepared place in the ground can turn any part of a real city or town, just launching a wireless communication system and causing special marks on the walls of buildings and the road surface. Thus, the possibility of testing will be the most complex scenarios in a real urban environment.

All currently existing training systems using virtual or augmented reality, yet insufficiently complex and quality to ensure that the trainees would immerse the soldier in the medium completely, they simply can not provide a realistic environment for training. However, a new training ground with robots Marathon Robotics completely devoid of these shortcomings. This is well aware of the armed forces of different countries. The current range, as shown in the video, it has been built in Australia in the near term will begin construction of this landfill in the U.S., which will be held sniper training U.S. Marine Corps, and the company Marathon Robotics is currently negotiating representatives of one of the Middle Eastern countries, which also plans to build such a training ground.