The Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program aims to produce a robotic arm that can perform tasks like disarming bombs or changing tires with minimal human interaction. (Image courtesy of DARPA)

DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is continuing its track record of promising advances in robotic arms and prosthetics with the announcement that it is developing a robotic arm that can complete complex tasks on its own with minimal commands from humans.

From Gizmag:

Robots are increasingly used by the military as a means to keep soldiers out of harm's way, but each bot tends to have a highly specific set of functions due to programming limits. DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program hopes to create one or more types of bots that can perform multiple tasks when needed with very little human interaction.

As DARPA sees it, this would require two main components: a robotic limb that could adapt to a wide range of uses and software that guides that limb's movements on its own.

Designers hope to program a single robotic arm with individual actions that it can use when presented with simplistic input and minimal human guidance, using commands like “open a door” to quickly set it to task.

The ultimate goal of the program would be to produce a fully autonomous and adaptable robot that can perform actions better without a human operator, even without specific instructions.

In a video (below) DARPA demonstrated an early arm design changing a small tire, a task that admittedly takes it a while to complete, but shows promise as an example of a versatile but relatively cheap ($3000 each) robotic device.

DARPA pursues a wide range of robotic projects as well, some of them gaining notoriety for their strange appearance as well as their potential for advanced applications, such as the cinderblock-tossing BigDog operating out of Boston Dynamics.

One of DARPA’s most exciting programs is a brain-controlled prosthetic arm that was fast-tracked by the FDA in 2011, and last year allowed a quadraplegic woman to feed herself chocolate using only commands from her mind.

Whether it’s prosthetic limbs or autonomous robots, it will likely be a few years more before any of these projects come into availability for the military or civilians, so for now DARPA’s Youtube channel will have to scratch our robotics itch.

You can reach Staff Reporter Shea Huffman here or follow him on Twitter.