For example, there was a company pitching this “AI backpack” that would be able to do EW, fire missions, comms and it weighed 80+ pounds. When a fellow grad student, who was a former infantryman asked how this was supposed to work in the middle of a firefight, they went 🤷🏻‍♂️ - ThreadSky

sodrock.bsky.social • 1 day ago

For example, there was a company pitching this “AI backpack” that would be able to do EW, fire missions, comms and it weighed 80+ pounds. When a fellow grad student, who was a former infantryman asked how this was supposed to work in the middle of a firefight, they went 🤷🏻‍♂️

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sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

There was another company that pitched a backpack just for EW that had a huge ass antenna and weighed 100+ pounds before the AI backpack pitch haha, imagine being a grunt trying to assault a treeline with that thing

sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

And I think there are real battlefield implications with AI and drones. I find fascinating what UGV’s are currently doing in Ukraine, imagine how helpful systems that could clear mines, breach fortifications and build trenches could be supporting grunts

sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

Recommend ⬇️ if you have any interest in this space!

zadokallen.bsky.social•1 day ago

saving 📌

nuso.bsky.social•1 day ago

So ridiculous that these self-fillaciating, Skynet simping dweebs are wasting time trying to create the drones from Oblivion when a programmable Red Flyer would do more for the ones actually fighting.

economymedicine.bsky.social•1 day ago

Meanwhile you could probably do a lot of the same stuff with a combination of SDR, flipper zero and WiFi pineapple new software and some decent batteries putting weight at maybe 20lbs. Biggest issue is the power needed for signal jamming. You can make the pack be a bunch of antennas.

nemo141.bsky.social•1 day ago

Even funnier: EW has largely been rendered obsolete by drones hooked up to fiber optic cables.

thrillpickle.bsky.social•1 day ago

They would have that pack on top of AT LEAST 60 more pounds of gear

andybrnr.bsky.social•1 day ago

This seems like the sort of kit you’d ideally stick on a Boston Dynamics “Big Dog” iteration that tags along with the squad (maybe feasible with another decade of refinement?)

effinvicta.bsky.social•1 day ago

Guess you'd just have to hook it up to your AI power armor suit and repeatedly press the pairing buttons on both!!

sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

Half the room was laughing, it’s wild what some of these companies are doing (and insist they get 7 figure DOD contracts)

vxcrdn.bsky.social•1 day ago

Techbro innovation follows 2 routes
1 Reinventing something that exists but more complicated and worse
2 Innovation that is fundamentally flawed because its not for real enviorment but techbro imagined version of real enviorment

economymedicine.bsky.social•1 day ago

You forgot 3 break existing law and call it innovation

blobodelendaest.bsky.social•1 day ago

TechBro enshittification has reached the military

vxcrdn.bsky.social•1 day ago

I mean there already qere reformists there its basicly the opposite so actually there is a balance in nature now with one group wanting to get rid of all the tech and the other wanting to add more existing tech but with neon lights and less practical for 50x price

blobodelendaest.bsky.social•1 day ago

Fair point. Gold plated establishment enshittifiers vs. nouveau riche enshittifiers.

Ironically, it will likely be solved by a Napoleon…. *facepalm

vfxpapa.bsky.social•1 day ago

The AI crash cannot come soon enough. Jesus Christ 😩

jeedyjay.bsky.social•1 day ago

They've probably convinced themselves that powered armor is just around the corner.

rocketjockey.bsky.social•1 day ago

📌

contramywill.bsky.social•1 day ago

You just don't understand AI bro. Just cram that EcoFlow DELTA Pro Portable Power Station and a dozen GPUs in that backpack and bob's your uncle. On the move LLM, what more could a soldier need. Can't decide who to shoot? Just ask the LLM bro.

jaynegallaghe20.bsky.social•1 day ago

👀 *gasps*

jhausdorf.bsky.social•1 day ago

As a former infantryman i hate people who try to come up with these fancy "man-portable" solutions that are in fact never man portable.

sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

There was another company that pitched a backpack just for EW that had a huge ass antenna and weighed 100+ pounds before the AI backpack pitch haha

jhausdorf.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ya I remember reading about that one in particular. It reminds me of how in WW2 they advertised new Recoiless Rifles as man-portable but they were all well over 50lbs with ammo included. Like, let's not try and fool ourselves here.

economymedicine.bsky.social•1 day ago

They brought back horses to help move them

springgreenzone.bsky.social•1 day ago

The ultimate objective of those backpacks is to make an exoskeleton, isn't it?

They've played too many videogmes, if they touched grass none of this would happen.

aelkus.bsky.social•1 day ago

i always think of the infantryman's load

sodrock.bsky.social•1 day ago

The 3rd assault brigade YouTube videos are always very instructive. When they carry out assaults they don’t bring a lot except a rifle and a shitload of grenades

tmbhmltn.bsky.social•18 hours ago

That’s what she said

roryr6.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Iirc the russians have an ew backpack that they drop off for assaults. I don't think I have seen it much in videos

gpgranger.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Reminds me of a story a Hungarian prof told me in Budapest in 2000. He said they decided they would make their own "talkie walkie," as he put it. So they made their own talkie walkie. The problem was the talkie walkie weighed 40 lbs. I never confirmed this but he told it very amusingly.

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