>> darpa has been well supported. our budget is currently about $2.8 billion a year that runs about 200 programs at darpa. our budget has declined as defense dollars have shrunk in the last five or six years. but, you know, i think that's reasonably stabilized at this point. and most importantly, i am pleased we continue to get the support we need in the broad technical community, the administration, both sides of the aisle and congress. >> part of chris reeves reporting for cbs this morning. here it is. >> some of darpa's wildest ideas come from nature like their research on mini robots. this reminds me of an ant colony. >> that's exactly what it looks like. >> as armies of ants work together darpa wants to have armies of mini ronnots. the ghetto caught darpa's attention because of its ability to climb walls? >> it will looks like he is zooming in. they are actually about a half a billion points of contact. >> darpa created a gecko-like material that supports the weight of a human in this never-before-scene video a s

she is director of darpa.he agency has been at the forefront of technological innovation since 1958. it has played a major role in breakthroughs such as the internet, smartphones, and driverless cars. it is pushing the frontiers of robotics, cyber securities, and brain science. i'm pleased to have her at this table for the first time. welcome. what is the mission of darpa? >> breakthrough technologies for national security. we are the slice of the defense department chartered with that job. that traces back to 1958 when we were formed in the wake of sputnik. that was a surprise that got everyone's attention. the response was to form this agency to prevent that kind of technological surprise. my predecessors realized that the best way to prevent surprises is to create some surprises of our own. >> tell me how you ended up at this important job. >> i was fortunate to come back to darpa. i came to darpa early in my career, in 1986. i was a year and a half after my phd program. i stumbled into an opportunity to co

you made me think about darpa and security, flying vehicles. they could bring that to bear to solving on the problem of regulation and technology solutions around control and security. >> for instance? >> the darpa folks have demonstrated how to make sure that people can't break into the internet of things technologies and how are going to address that. as we begin to have sensors and these great technologies that can help us, we have to make sure that's a secure network and having someone like darpa funded research looking at those problems is really important. >> you have this incredibly broad -- it's what your most excited about. where do you feel like there are places and resources with the federal government, also constraints, that you can change the bureaucracy. >> technology should help people's quality of life, big challenges. how do we reduce our impact on the planet. i ran into a friend of mine, catherine moore, who will be on the stage, and i think that what we want to do, what i want to do is unlock talent. there is so much talent i

alled the darpa challenge.hey said at the time that whoever could build a car that could drive itself from los angeles to las vegas would win a million dollars. article together and team at -- five foot together a team at stanford about a handful of students and i built a car that would drive the course. >> and you did. >> this has to be slightly faster than anybody else. which gave us the first prize. >> i think that is called winning. i rode in the self driving car with you about four years ago. >> you remember. >> how far has it come since then? >> at this point, i confidently tell you it drives better than me. if you were to drive with me, then you would beg me for the car to take over because it keeps the lane much better, it brakes more gently. it anticipates things much faster than i can. >> so would you drive in a self driving car with your family across the country? >> i have done this many times. i have a little vacation home in lake tahoe and i've taken my family up many times. of course, i am behind

i get the virtual knock at the door from the department of defense and darpa. and a very passionate colonel, who happened to be coming back from his fifth trip to afghanistan and iraq. by the way, this kernel is a narrow surgeon. there he is in my office saying, i cannot believe it. at the end of the civil war when a soldier lost his arm, we put a wooden stick with a look on it -- hook on it. when they lose their arms when ied, we give them a plastic stick with a look on it. then he says he wants capability and motor control. he wants it to flex at the shoulder. fully autonomous. self-contained. fit on the 50th percentile female and be done in two years. >> makes you appreciate how complicated and arm is. >> i think we delivered something they were excited about. we now have them on about 30 soldiers. [applause] >> have you gotten to meet with the people using them? >> yes. and it is astounding. but the most astounding thing to me, the rest of my life is medical equipment. go matter who you put it on people need dialysis. people feel like victims. they feel sor

i get the virtual knock on the door from the department of defense and darpa and a very passionate kernel who happened to be coming back on his fourth or fifth trip to afghanistan and iraq. by the way, this kernel is a neurosurgeon. there he is at my office saying i cannot believe it, at the end of the civil war when a soldier lost his arm, we put a wooden stick with a hook on it. now look at the technology we give these young people to defend us but when they lose their arm to an ied, we give them a plastic stick with a hook on it. these young people deserve more than that. and you are going to deliver it. and then he described, he wants full capability, fine motor control he wants to flex at the wrist, elbow abduct, flex at the shoulder, fully autonomous completely self-contained, caring its own power, and be done in two years. >> makes you appreciate how complicated the arm is. >> i'm happy to say that we delivered on something that i think they were excited about. we made a second generation and we now have them on about 30 soldiers. [applause] >> have you got to meet with the people

i get the virtual knock at the door from the department of defense and darpa and a very passionate colonel who happened to be coming back from his fourth or fifth trip to afghanistan in iraq. there he is at my office saying, i can't believe it. at the end of the civil war when the soldier lost his arm we put a wooden stick on him with a hook on it. now look at the technology we give these young people to defend us but when they lose their arm to an i.e.d. we give them a plastic stick with a hook on it. these young people deserve way more than that and you're going to deliver it. then he describes, he wants full capability, fine motor control. he wants flex and a wrist and an elbow, flex in the shoulder. fully autonomous. completely self-contained carrying its own power, fit on a 50th percentile female and be done in two years. >> it makes you appreciate how complicated an arm is. >> i'm happy to say we delivered something i think they were very excited about. we made it second generation and we now have them on about 30 soldiers. >> wow. [applause] >> have you gotten to meet with the peopl

you made me think about darpa and security, flying vehicles. they could bring that to bear to solving on the problem of regulation and technology solutions around control and security. >> for instance? >> the darpa folks have demonstrated how to make sure that people can't break into the internet of things technologies and how are going to address that. as we begin to have sensors and these great technologies that can help us, we have to make sure that's a secure network and having someone like darpa funded research looking at those problems is really important. >> you have this incredibly broad -- it's what your most excited about. where do you feel like there are places and resources with the federal government, also constraints, that you can change the bureaucracy. >> technology should help people's quality of life, big challenges. how do we reduce our impact on the planet. i ran into a friend of mine, catherine moore, who will be on the stage, and i think that what we want to do, what i want to do is unlock talent. there is so much talent i

obama administration's brain initiative has allocated a lot of money, $2 million to brain research and darpawell as some other military outfits are really at the forefront of taking that money and innovating it into different solutions to help wounded warriors not just control robotic limbs a lot better, giving them back the functionality that veterans experience when they lose a limb when they are -- or perhaps, lose two limbs but also prosthetics that help us understand the mind a lot better. there's a prosthetic solution they're working on that records and transmits different changes between brain states that we can use to begin to understand ptsd a lot better. that's a prosthetic as well. it's not just the robotic arms and developing a neuro-interface, brain interface. it's also prosthetics that actually look at the brain itself and can gives us a window first into ptsd and a wide variety of neurological illnesses and states. >> that's amazing stuff. patrick, thank you for joining us and sharing that today. >> thanks for having me. >>> up next as we wrap the holidays, are you already loo

so there's a group called darpa. if your audience doesn't know the defense advanced research projects agency. they're like the cool kids on the block. they come up with the fun stuff like internet and velcro and robot armies. there's been a lot of talk after the war years, about the technology that was created. you know, mainly drones and autonomy. it's the big thing, according to my editor patrick tucker who you have on very often, who will say, you know automatic systems take humans out of the component as much as possible to save lives and also make a lot of work able to be done very quickly. the biggest, scariest thing ever that we're all waiting for is an actual robot army. robot infantrymen with robot abilities to kill other robots. that's the one thing the pentagon says they're never going to let happen but get as close to it as possible and keep trying to develop it. they keep trying to develop robotics that are auto ton mouse. we said the army this year put out a request they want to know by the end of the y