Robots can understand human speech
The United States Navy has really picked up research on robotics in the last few years. Recently the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research(LASR) unveiled a 50,000-square-foot complex on the campus of the Naval Research Laboratory. The lab is going to do research and testing on how robots interact with people and how people interact with robots. The facility has sand pits, pools, even a jungle that has the capability to pour 6 inches of rain per hour down into it.
The facility has a 15 foot wall with a 3 foot sand pit beneath it. There is also a fan that can create a sandstorm, because the military needs these robots to go to the harshest places imaginable. Not only to keep people out of danger, but robots can be more thorough in whatever their specified job is. From football sized fish-bots designed to root out mines, to mechanical bats that use sonar to guide themselves, the future looks bright for this facility and military robotics in general.The pride and joy of the facility are 2 fire fighting robots named Octavia and Lucas. These 2 roots can actually understand human speech and comprehend 2 different instructions to put together where a fire might be.