NationStates Jolt Archive

Killer R0b0ts!!!111oneoneone (http://news.com.com/Army+to+deploy+robots+that+shoot/2100-7348_3-5473191.html?tag=nefd.top)

Army to deploy robots that shoot
Published: December 1, 2004, 12:23 PM PST
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Next year, the U.S. Army will give robots machine guns, although humans will firmly be in control of them.

The Army next March will begin to deploy Talon robots from Waltham, Mass.-based Foster-Miller. The robots will be mounted with M240 or M249 machine guns, said a Foster-Miller spokesman. The units also can be mounted with a rocket launcher. Defense agencies have been testing an armed version of the Talon since 2003.

Putting guns on robotic vehicles is a natural evolution of the technology, which is being adopted to decrease risks to personnel in the field, the company said. Several robots, including the Talon and the PackBot from iRobot, have been used to conduct surveillance missions such as taking pictures inside the caves of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, during the conflict. Other robots have been mounted with "distruptors," guns that disable bombs and mines.

A robot coming next year from John Deere and iRobot will ferry supplies to and from the front, navigating its travels with little human input.

A robotic vehicle with a machine gun will essentially enable soldiers to stay in a safe area while attacking an enemy.

Unlike most robots, the machine gun-mounted Talon won't be autonomous. People will guide it via radio commands or fiber networks and then have full control over the gun.

"Driving, observing and shooting are always done with a man in the loop," the Foster-Miller spokesman said. "The labs like autonomy, but the users themselves always like to have control."

The Talon weighs about 80 pounds, travels at 5.2 miles per hour and can go about 20 miles on a battery charge. In "wake up" mode, in which the unit conducts surveillance but remains mostly dormant, a battery charge can last about a week. The Talon was used in Bosnia to dispose of grenades and during the cleanup of the World Trade Center.

The company has received more than $65 million in orders from various defense agencies.


I guess this means Bush can start locking people up in detention camps, since his war droids will follow his every command :rolleyes: :D

But really, anything that can make the lives of our soldiers a little less dangerous gets an OK in my book.

Killer R0b0ts!!!111oneoneone (http://news.com.com/Army+to+deploy+robots+that+shoot/2100-7348_3-5473191.html?tag=nefd.top)



I guess this means Bush can start locking people up in detention camps, since his war droids will follow his every command :rolleyes: :D

But really, anything that can make the lives of our soldiers a little less dangerous gets an OK in my book.


I'm still in a job, only when they make Robot MP's should I worry.

Kewl...Terminator.

Yeah I heard this on NPR. I think it's kuhl although the robots are the suck at the moment. I wish I could be the one controlling the robots though. I'd like to see how easy or hard it is to hack it and get control of the robot too. Neat stuff eh?

Sweet.

A 'Mobile Suit Gundam future', here we come!

I've already seen this movie.

Next the robots enslave the human race.

Count me out. I'm going to live right next to the world's largest natural magnet. *nod*

But you can see what the Super Dimensional Fortress *not* crashing into the Pacific in 1999 has done: we're a LOOOOOONG ways away from Veritechs!!

You know these things look alot like the Mars probe, right? Sorry, no Gundam or Terminator for you. ;)

"Halt, drop your weapons and surrender immediately. You have 10 seconds to comply."

"I give up!"

"You have 7 seconds to comply..."

"I dropped it already!"

"5 seconds to comply..."

What's next? Cloned armies of Bush-troopers to take over the universe?

What's next? Cloned armies of Bush-troopers to take over the universe?

All ready happened. Just happened to be called the 2004 Election.

so now when they shoot civlians they can call it a computer glitch

Or they'll install the control programs into AlienWare PCs and replace the troops with CPL contenders.

"Dude, this is the most real version of Counterstrike I've ever played!"

Or they'll install the control programs into AlienWare PCs and replace the troops with CPL contenders.

"Dude, this is the most real version of Counterstrike I've ever played!"

That would be awesome, but some 10 year old who gets off to killing teammates would waste a one billion dollar army because no one ever told him "NO Friendly Fire"

"Oh, shoot, I keep forgetting that my guys can be hit by my own weapons..."

so now when they shoot civlians they can call it a computer glitch
Genius!

"Halt, drop your weapons and surrender immediately. You have 10 seconds to comply."

"I give up!"

"You have 7 seconds to comply..."

"I dropped it already!"

"5 seconds to comply..."


Robo Cop kicks butt

before he leaves office after 2008,
he can colonize and govern the conquered nations
with ethnic americans from all over the world.

If the US wants to be a real world empire,
it is the most natural one on earth because
the US has immigrants from every nation on earth.

Just think of the possibilities,
of the logic of this statement.

That's good. In combat, I'm seeing that robots would probably be better than humans, as they are hardwired to follow orders, and screw everything else. Besides, robots can be rebuilt. Human lives can't be brought back.

Mechwarrior's just around the corner, baby!

Killer R0b0ts!!!111oneoneone (http://news.com.com/Army+to+deploy+robots+that+shoot/2100-7348_3-5473191.html?tag=nefd.top)



I guess this means Bush can start locking people up in detention camps, since his war droids will follow his every command :rolleyes: :D

But really, anything that can make the lives of our soldiers a little less dangerous gets an OK in my book.

the millitary already has the technology with UAV's (unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
and I think I read somewhere that they already rigged a few of them so they could drop bomb/missles

these are nothing... have you seen hondas robots?

or check out these manned robotic vehicles by toyota!

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/toyoto-ifoot-and-iunit-026866.php

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/toyota_iwalk_iunit.jpg

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/toyota_iunit1.jpg

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/toyota_iwalk1.jpg

You know, if they're manned, then they're not really robots (in rely to the Honda pics). Those are so stupid looking. And they probably aren't paying those models enough for the shame of being dressed lke that...

But the US military stuff is cool.

puhlease... you seriously think that those crappy us robots are cool?

you are right that those are probably not robots by TOYOTA but I think they do look cool, and very space age... they are for the handicapped by the way. I cant wait to see people runnign around in them.

The Honda robots are super awesome though. Noones elses robots can even compare.

http://www.autointell-news.com/News-2003/August-2003/August-2003-4/Honda-Asimo-sm.jpg

Mechwarrior's just around the corner, baby!
Forget Mechwarrior, Gundam is where it's at

Not a one of you has seen any of these things in realistic situations have you? Manned robots for any type of practical combat are at least a decade away. Any robotic creations as of yet are merely enhancements to already existing vehicles and don't augment soldier's skills very well. The type of robots in the works now can't run as fast as a human soldier, can't point out military targets from civilian ones. And they'll never be able to use their own intelligence or training to decide the best COA. Unmanned airplanes can only do what is explicitly hardwired into them or remote controlled. Robots can never take over the world, because the impulse to power, the willingness and drive to destroy, and the feeling of enslavement or exploitation that humans feel are not things that can be programmed into robots less an act of God himself. Sorry to rain on all of the video game parades many of you are having, but robotic combat is incredibly farfetched at this point in time or any point close to it.

-snip-
Don't worry, we all know that (or at least I do) - we're just joking around (or at least I am)

Not a one of you has seen any of these things in realistic situations have you? Manned robots for any type of practical combat are at least a decade away. Any robotic creations as of yet are merely enhancements to already existing vehicles and don't augment soldier's skills very well. The type of robots in the works now can't run as fast as a human soldier, can't point out military targets from civilian ones. And they'll never be able to use their own intelligence or training to decide the best COA. Unmanned airplanes can only do what is explicitly hardwired into them or remote controlled. Robots can never take over the world, because the impulse to power, the willingness and drive to destroy, and the feeling of enslavement or exploitation that humans feel are not things that can be programmed into robots less an act of God himself. Sorry to rain on all of the video game parades many of you are having, but robotic combat is incredibly farfetched at this point in time or any point close to it.


obviously you aren't up on current events:

http://www.wilenkin.com/transformers/Video_player_06_content.html

"Oh, shoot, I keep forgetting that my guys can be hit by my own weapons..."
For some reason I found this way funnier than it should be.
Maybe I should stop playing computer games.
Naww.

As someone who is militantly opposed to war, but a huge fan of the Nintendo masterpiece "Basewars" I am conflicted... Can these robots learn to throw a curve ball?

Forget Mechwarrior, Gundam is where it's at

Only if you want a flamboyant robot. I like my death straight up with no frills.