hippiedrill

Underground tunneling robots with explosives.  It’s not just the name of my next rock band.  The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has submitted a request for information on Robotic Underground Munition (RUM) technology.  I sent them a drawing of a mole wearing a BattleTech costume and an ammo belt, along with a detailed description of the mole’s likes and dislikes written on some graph paper to make it all sciencey.  Hey, they requested information.  I’m a good citizen.

This underground robot would first soft land, then start drilling, navigating under the Earth—away from Global Positioning Systems—until it reaches its target. Once it arrives to its destination—obviously an underground man-made structure—the robot would have to go through the last line of defense and explode inside. [Gizmodo]

I ran this idea past Mr. Mole, and he said “Aw hell naw” and skedaddled.  Moles make terrible suicide bombers; my grandfather warned me of this day.  Also, I found some exclusive footage from a DTRA meeting on a similar, above-ground prototype: