Gun-toting robot still in training (US army)

[IChing]

By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

The U.S. Army has delayed deployment of a robot equipped with a machine gun, a slight setback in the march of robots into war.
The Talon Sword, an autonomous vehicle with a machine gun (or rocket launcher) mounted on top that soldiers can fire from a remote location, was supposed to be deployed in live situations in Iraq by April. The robot, however, required some adjustments, according to Bob Quinn, spokesman for the manufacturer Foster-Miller. The adjustments have been made, but the Army is currently conducting further testing.


"The system is undergoing a final safety release for combat operations by the Army," Quinn wrote in an e-mail. "They will appear in combat when they appear. More specific timelines will not be made public. The ability of a soldier to maneuver and fire his weapon remotely off a robotic vehicle is just a matter of time."

Various branches of the armed services have already deployed robots in battlefield situations, but mostly to conduct reconnaissance. The PackBot from iRobot, for instance, crawled into caves in Afghanistan to seek out Taliban fighters. In Iraq, robots equipped with chemical sensors get sent into sensitive areas in advance of troops.

The Defense Department wants a third of all battle vehicles--a definition that encompasses ground vehicles, flying drones and helicopters, to be unmanned by 2010.
>>>>snip

http://news.com.com/Gun-toting+robot+still+in+training/2100-7337_3-5757611.html?part=rss&tag=5757611&subj=news

[slackmaster]

1. They originally wanted to use sharks, but they're endangered

It's a very surly robot.

[aden_nak]

5. Life! Don't talk to me about life.

[bpilgrim]

27. prototype here -------------- --------------- ------- > VIDEO

robot cop/soldier (quicktime)
http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=7

aka: rummy hard-on :scared:

peace

[Julius Civitatus]

18. Sharks with laser beams attached to their freakin' heads!

:rofl:

[RPM]

2. guh

:scared: - those things will fire on civilians; even domestic civilians... :scared:

[tk2kewl]

4. precisely

:scared:

[IChing]

6. reminds me of a bad robo cop movie

or terminator movie.
although these are not independent robots.
YET

[tk2kewl]

11. It's worse that they aren't independent. Imagine if bush had a million

of these things doing whatever he commanded.

[slackmaster]

9. Only civilians who happen to get in the way

:argh:

[daleo]

23. My thought too

Robots don't have friends and neighbors. Eventually the insane PNAC types will want robots with artificial intelligence to eliminate the human factor altogether. So much for the culture of life - it is a perverse worship of death we are witnessing.

[tk2kewl]

3. This shit is fucking terrifying

when the military is no longer made up of people, there will be no chance that soldiers will disobey orders to kill innocents.

Imagine Kent State if all of the guardsmen were directly controlled by Nixon.

:scared:

[bennywhale]

25. Scarier is the implications politically for engaging in war. If there is

no chance of human casualties there is no human interest vis a vis most of the American public. The political risk therefore vanishes. If there is NO chance that any American soldiers will be killed, there will be more chance that an invasion/attack will happen.

[tk2kewl]

29. I am hopeful, however, that defending against them will be much

easier than defending agains humans. jamming devices and such, and they can't think

[jeff30997]

7. Remember the Robot in Robocop 1 ?

[0rganism]

13. ED-209: "Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply."

Dick Jones: "I think you'd better do as he says, Mr. Kinney."

(Mr. Kinney drops the gun)

ED: "You have 15 seconds to comply."

[jeff30997]

17. Hehehe.Yep, that's the one.

[pocket]

8. the army is full of gun-toting robots

at least this one can't rape anybody.

[tk2kewl]

10. Nor can it disobey an illegal or immoral order

[Double T]

12. Does The Robot Shoot First.....

and ask questions later????

[Occulus]

14. Three-letter answer: EMP n/t

[Lerkfish]

15. I think I've seen this movie

(Arnold Voice) At 6:18 pm on July 9th, skynet became self-aware.....in de panic..they tried to pull de plug.....it launchs its missles.....

[IChing]

16. This desensitizes the operator from the actual killing, smell of death

screams, the eye to eye confrontation, that a battlefield makes so brutally
honest.

[slackmaster]

19. Not exactly a new concept

We've been bombing people from airplanes for almost 100 years.

Military miners have been blowing people up with remote-control explosives for longer than that.

[Kagemusha]

20. So does standard infantry training.

Really think robots will make that much of a difference?

[SoCalDem]

21. It could be defeated with ball bearings and oil...no??

Slippy Slide, the Robot:)

[wakeme2008]

22. Another Rummy pipe dream

look and think IED... Probably a Million a copy taken out by a $20 IED... Pipe Dream....

[sleipnir]

24. Have these people learned nothing from "Terminator!"???

n/t

[bennywhale]

26. If there is NO chance an American soldier will be killed there is an

increased chance of war. The risk, politically, almost vanishes if no coffins come home. Bad news for foreigners with dark skin. No human interest there = no interest = more war = more killing = more war = more death = oh for fucks sake.

I despair at the world we will leave our children and grandchildren and there children.

I think we should all write letters of apology in our wills.

[Lisa]

28. someone's been watching the movie "Aliens" ...

Remember those robot-fired guns that the survivors set up, to try to stop the monsters ... however, later on in the movie, it becomes evident that the machines fire at every single motion and quickly run out of ammunition. (The aliens are smart enough to realize this ...)

[brentspeak]

30. This reminds me of the company executives from "RoboCop"

Pushing the one unfortunate guy into the path of the killer malfunctioning robot (ED-9) in a panic.

They were very Republican.

[0rganism]

31. A truly unforgettable scene

(The prototype ED-209 has just malfunctioned and... uh... forcefully disarmed an office worker)
The Old Man: "Dick, I'm very disappointed."
Dick Jones: "I'm sure it's only a glitch. A temporary setback."
The Old Man: "You call this a glitch?"
(pause)
The Old Man: "We're scheduled to begin construction in 6 months. Your temporary setback could cost us 50 million dollars in interest payments alone!"

(Yes, extremely Republican)

[obxhead]

32. It drives me CRAZY

We can spend so much money on this crap to "save lives" yet our soldiers have no armor.
:wtf: