Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR)creates new advanced testing grounds for military research. - courtesy of popsci

Humans fighting to the death in controlled environments and watched by millions of viewers. This is the situation in the phenomenally acclaimed book, The Hunger Games. Now, the United States military has found a way to incorporate the same basic ideals into its own research and development.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) announced that the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) opened on March 16, 2012, in Washington D.C. This lab will specialize in self-sufficient research for the US Navy and Marine Corps for future national defense technology.

The US Navy and Marine Corps, however, aren’t displaying death matches on a huge screen for everyone to see. Instead, they are working with different maneuverable environments created to see how robots and humans can cooperate. THe challenges posed in“The Hunger Games,” are similar to those in The Tropical High Bay, which is part of the new Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research.

"The research done at LASR will work to reduce the time and cost needed to develop autonomous systems by allowing NRL’s scientists and engineers to test new technologies in realistic environments such as oceans, coasts, deserts, tropical rain forests, waterfalls, and rock walls," says director of LASR, Alan C Schultz.

There are special high speed videos to capture the movement of the multiple ground robots, through the multiple environments.

The Littoral High Bay which is a 45x25x5.5 pool requires a generator to produce waves and aquatic difficulties. The 40x14x2.5 desert landscape known as Desert High Bay includes an 18ft rock wall to test climbing abilities. Resembling the environment in Hunger Games, The Tropical High Bay. Consists of a 60x40 greenhouse with temperatures of 80 degrees F and up to 80% humidity.

Outside the facility, there is a 1/3 acre of land containing waterfalls, rough terrain, rocks, and other naturally occurring obstacles.

In the near future, scientists at NRL hope to develop other forms of defense for the nation through developing better, more proficient robots, underwater mobiles, and state of the art research for motion detecting.