November 23, 2021

The Turtle and the Scare


The Turtle and the Scare
Turtle Bot wants to scare you | Wikimedia Commons

On November 19, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed a “turtle” to disperse crowds at street riots.

The tiny bots, slated to stand around waist-height on adults and run at speeds up to 60 kilometers per hour, come equipped with several capabilities to gradually discourage gatherings. First, the robots will project messages of illegal behavior via speakerphone in case milling individuals are not aware that what they are doing is wrong. If this tactic fails, the robot might pull a Spiderman and launch a net to trap a “fugitive,” and then spray the individual in quick-hardening foam to prevent escape.

It is not clear whether scientists at the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center developed the technology independently, but the Rosgvardia (Federal Service of the Troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation), an internal military force, has stated that they did not order the turtles.

While in recent years there has been discussion of including new technology in the Rosgvardia’s repertoire of means to combat protests, such as “Punisher” armored cars and “Wall” complexes that would protect the solders from angry mobs, these techniques have seen practically no use. The Russian National Guard and mass police tend to disperse crowds with the use of batons and physical force.

Nets, foam, and a big mouth? The turtle could not be that bad, surely – not fearsome like an all-knowing robotic teacher, anyhow.

 

You Might Also Like

Putting Robots to Work on the Past
  • March 01, 2020

Putting Robots to Work on the Past

Ever wanted to take a stroll in nineteenth century Moscow? See how one Russian uses machine learning to make grainy old videos ever more realistic.
Robots Hit the Road
  • September 10, 2021

Robots Hit the Road

Three Russian cities are set to host the country's first unmanned taxis. What could go wrong?
Cops and Robots
  • August 10, 2021

Cops and Robots

Russia's “Promobot” is more efficient than the teacher with eyes in the back of her head.
Robodogs, Space Movies, and Skydiving
  • July 15, 2021

Robodogs, Space Movies, and Skydiving

In this week's Odder News, a skydiver plunges into family breakfast, Russian and American actors fly into space, and robots are taking over.
iTeacher
  • May 31, 2021

iTeacher

After a year of education through computer screens and the internet, one Russian school looks to bring the screens back into the physical classroom with a robotic teacher. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955