Killer robots could become the weapon of choice for militants.
Several countries and companies are developing the technology for robot weapons, with the U.S. Department of Defense leading the way. More than 4,000 robots are deployed in Iraq.
“The trouble is that we can’t really put the genie back in the bottle. Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy,” says Noel Sharkey…
“How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act? With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn’t require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons.”
Sharkey said a small GPS-guided drone with autopilot could be made for about $490.
RC model plane clubs will now require Homeland Insecurity clearance.
Somehow, planting a roadside bomb is a cowardly act and a terrorist activity. Yet when the worlds strongest military develops a new weapon that also relies upon stealth, that is just peachy.
Maybe if we spent more time trying to learn to get along and not be killing each other all the time, … .
I was wondering what they would Decide to use, insted of the OLD clay pigeons…
These should take a HIT or 2, before FALLING out of the air.
anyone remember the OLD Radar days??
They would set people in CONES of concrete, that could pick up 50 MILES away..
what i want to see…
Is some SMARt person SITTING on the ground, sending signals to the thing, AS IT FLIES..
controling these things will be hard enough, WITHOUT others listening to the SIGNALS, and FIGURING OUT HOW they work. Then sending BACK instructions to the device.
DONT THINK we have ALL the smart people in the world..REMEMBER that many nations send KIDS here to learn from the BEST.
ECA said, DONT THINK we have ALL the smart people in the world..REMEMBER that many nations send KIDS here to learn from the BEST.
I doubt we would have made it to the Moon in a decade if not for Werner vonBraun and his cadre of German rocket scientists.
Thousands of autonomous UAVs smacks of Skynet. More information from Scientific American on CM.
Oh brother! Someone’s been watching too much Terminator again!
Anyone whose been a robot hobbyist awhile will tell you this is BS. Maybe you could design a UAV from hobby parts, but at that price it would be slow, incapable of dominating strong breezes and have a very limited autonomy.
Apart from that there’s like a HUGE difference between hobby robotics and the real deal. Hobby servos don’t have enough power to really do much more than dance around. Sure you can use industrial servos but they’re expensive, hard to find, and not designed for mobile/autonomous use.
In the future it will become easier and easier, thanks to the internet that’s true for most technologies. The trick for the military’s always the same, they’ve got to stay on tthe ‘bleeding edge’ of thechnology.
Don’t look at me… The robot did it!
With our huge ass military bill, no one could think of a self destruct?
This is the Germany manufactor for that “cool” gadget: microdrones GmbH
http://www.microdrones.com
Ah, me. So many amateurs.
One of the first rules of any guerilla war is use your enemy’s weapons. He has lots of them. So, you either steal them, capture ’em in combat – or find some willing redneck who wants to make an extra buck and buy hardware from him.
No need for insurgents anywhere in the world to actually build a UAV or other robot. They’ll get them from “us”. Presuming we continue to elect fools who think they should rule the world.
EVERYBODY PANIC!!!
BAN THE SALE of parts needed to build these things IMMEDIATELY!!!
Kiss that hobby goodbye, folks.
Maybe it’s time to resurrect an old catch phrase from the ’60s and apply it to robots: “Make love, not war!”
But seriously, my biggest criticism of the potential effect of robots in battle arises from its greatest advantage. It will isolate us (the kings of tech) from the effects of war, even more than we already are. Will war become even more politically acceptable to us as a nation if only the foreigners die and not our own “battle technicians”?
When the utter imbeciles running this country start requiring a license even more restrictive than the one you need to own automatic weapons for your kid’s Lego Mindstorm set, you know this country is officially on the ash heap of history. It’s pretty much there already.
2 pounds of plastic explosive strapped to a thosand dollar model plane and your average terrorist is in business.We can’t stop it the future is now.
My Roomba is acting strange
J/P=
Looks like a Flying Tea-Kettle !!! Maybe Disney could use these !!!
“Who’s that?…..I can hear you……Are you still there?”
16,
PORTAL FIEND…Awww RUN…
Other comment…
PULL….
Zoom…
BAM BAM BAM….
Got it.
Look MA, I shot it.
Pa, what is that?
dont rather know, I thought it was a Duck.
Pa, it aint got no feathers…
I thought i Shot them CLEAN off..
Pa, we can try an cook it, but that HIDE has to come off.
Why do they need robots when the have plenty of brainwashed teenage boys, children, and mental patients wanting to be be suicide bombers?
Related–here is the new death ray:
Why is it that if some domestic religious christian kook gets ahold of some poison (Las Vegas Ricin incident), the government says “no its not terrorism, nothing to see here”.
But when they found some duct-tape and foam model airplanes powered by chainsaw engines in iraq, the Bush Regime said “Proof of terrorism! They could put poison gas on it and kill MILLIONS!!!!”.
Come on people.