US police buying armed robots

"Armed robots -- similar to the ones now on patrol in Iraq -- are being marketed to domestic police forces, according to the machines' manufacturer and law enforcement officers. None of the gun-toting 'bots appear to have been deployed domestically, yet. Both cops and company officials say it's only a matter of time, however.

"Other than some R&D with the shotgun mount, we haven't used it operationally," Massachusetts State Police Trooper Mike Rogowski tells DANGER ROOM. "But they're on the way. They're coming," "

from:

blog.wired.com...

Here comes the future folks-patrolling armed robots similar to the "Talon"used in Iraq are being farmed out to police forces across the US.
I imagine they will only be used by SWAT and the like at first,or maybe for sentry duty at crime scenes/police stations.If they do well in America no doubt they will get sold to the rest of the world,and keep evolving over the years.
Hopefully though,the cops will only use them to collect doughnuts,but somehow I doubt that.
Our grandchildren may think nothing of being barked at by a gun toting robot,demanding you raise your hands and be "chemically sniffed/DNA swabbed,"or DIE/get tasered...
Any comments and opinions welcome everyone.


[edit on 16-8-2007 by Silcone Synapse]

No takers?
Heres a link about the robots in question:

www.foster-miller.com...

I am not saying there is a direct connection,but what with these new "fusion centers"

www.gcn.com...

and the new plan to turn spy satellites onto citizens of the USA,

www.cbsnews.com...

the future looks-well,different to say the least...

Armed robots on the ground,invisible "eyes in the sky",fusion centers monitoring everything,from what you purchase to how you walk...
All this will do is drive a bigger wedge between the masses and the authorities,but maybe thats the intent...
Does anyone believe that this sort of thing will make you feel safer?
Heck,I can`t wait till we have all this stuff in the UK...(sarc)

If they get hit by lightning do they come to life? 'Johny 5 is alive!!' 'Your mother was a snowblower - Punk' 'I ripped a 5 year old in half with my mini gun - Reassemble! Reassemble!' Oh I could go on, but I will spare the good folk of ATS

Mind you, how long do you reckon it will take for some homicidal geek to figure out a way to take control / bypass these things - scary times ahead guys, maybe you'll be OK if you run up the stairs.

Kinda reminds me of the movie 'I, Robot'...

Wonder what will become of them the first time someone is "accidentally killed" when one of these things go haywire.

Hi now then,
You raise a good point-I was thinking these robots could be disabled with a net/blanket/bucket of glue if they are sent on patrol alone-of course they will probably have thought of that,and the robots will roam in packs,protecting each other.I expect they will have "air support" in the form of drones as well-so that anyone who tampers with a robot may be filmed/killed.

I'm sure the British police won't be too far behind with the launch of a Robo-Cop

Would it be called an iPlod??

The Merseyside force have already introduced surveillance UAVs with the Home Office awaiting trial results with the intention of rolling the programme out nationally

[edit on 17-8-2007 by citizen smith]

High speed impact with a very heavily armerd vehicle might be a fun way to take out one or two.

That makes me think, if you ram a police car, thats assault with a deadly weapon. The police will then (epically across the pond) pop a cap in your posterior. What if you ram Johny 5?

I think we should have these robots delivering mail (without a big gun) and get all the posies to be coppers. I wouldn't mind that - no xmas tips!

Edit: iPlod!! genius.

[edit on 17/8/2007 by Now_Then]

Its starting here too,and all over our "free world."
My major problem with this is that all this technology takes away the human face of authority--look whats happened to our society since all the local police stations have closed.We rarely see police "on the beat" where I live,and crime has increased as a result.
When the police lose that local knowledge,they tend to treat more people like criminals,because they don`t know the people in question--The advent of armed robots will add to this problem,as the police/robot controllers will feel even more seperated from the masses-any may be more likely to abuse their power.
I hope I am wrong.

This sorta ties in here.



Have a look at deltaboy's thread on this bad boy!! (good pics)

Very interesting helicopter,Now then.
Good point you made about the recoil too-surely a round fired from the shotguns would send the heli spinning out of control!
But if they were equipped with tactical lasers or microwave weapons(or maybe some electronically fired system,like metalstorm) there goes your recoil problem.Yes,it will take time to miniaturize such weapon sytems but the day will come.Scary in the wrong hands.
Imagine these robots and drones all networked into the central computers and being automated like the "terminator" scenario,of course not as advanced but maybe given a list of tragets and allowed to take them out in their own time.
Scare mongering?Maybe.
Possible? Definitely.

quick addition:
Looks like the Humanoid shaped robots are now catching up with the tracked/winged variety:

www.wired.com...

Pretty complex stuff,and accelerating.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Silcone Synapse]

My first thought on reading this thread was ED209 from the Robocop movie. "you have ten seconds to comply". Scary stuff.Loved the iPlod one Wolfie.

Originally posted by wigit
My first thought on reading this thread was ED209 from the Robocop movie. "you have ten seconds to comply". Scary stuff.Loved the iPlod one Wolfie.

Wigit,that DARPA humanoid robot in the above post link can take off/put on car wheelnuts!
Damn,it is scary-one day we could all wake up to find DARPAs robot army have stolen all our car wheels...
At least I hope that is what they are planning,rather than the whole "they want your soul",ARPANET,transhumanist slave prison control agenda...
Humm,I started off giggling but now I am not.

Hmm... robots eh? sorry for the one line post - but only one thought came to mind when reading this thread;

I want one! Where do i buy and how much!?

(and while were reminiscing about films and such concerning robots, i found the manned walkers out of the Matrix trilogy with the HUUUUUGE gatling guns were brought to mind) wantwantwantwantwant...

I wonder how they are going to use these armed robots. If we should expect them to be autonimously patroling our streets. I would be scared #itless if I was pulled over by something that didnt have the means of seeing in grey, or giving a warning. What if they people find the means of hacking into these remotley controlled, shotgun weilding robots. Freeky to say the least! Skynet is comming....AHHHHHH