US war robots in Iraq 'turned guns' on fleshy comrades

I guess the whole 1st law of Robotics has been completely thrown out.

Bring on the Terminators.

At the risk of being lambasted in this thread - it's not really about the technology. It's about contracting the development of autonomous lethal weapon systems to the lowest bidder. They then must make good on the bid while squeezing as much out of the 'customer' as possible.

I would rather have a fully functioning machine by my side than nothing. Of course, if the systems were developed so the field personal could repair or adjust them, the contractors would lose out on millions in support fees. I'm not saying the 'incident' was 'good for business' - but it sure didn't hurt their bottom line. And it may even make them MORE profitable - and in the end - isn't that all the really matters? Just ask Haliburton - they got this down pat.

www.defense-update.com...

www.defense-update.com...

www.defense-update.com...

gizmodo.com...

www.youtube.com...://gizmodo.com/gadgets/police-brutality-is-the-easy-part/portal-denial-system-electroplasmalaser-2 61936.php

www.youtube.com...

And lets not forget the Metal Storm weapons. They know how to feed them now too. 6,000 grenades per minute..... 1,000,000 .30 cals per minute....

www.youtube.com...
www.youtube.com...

Apparently, alert American troops managed to quell the traitorous would-be droid assassins before the inevitable orgy of mechanised slaughter began. Fahey didn't say just how, but conceivably the rogue robots may have been suppressed with help from more trustworthy airborne kill machines, or perhaps prototype electropulse zap bombs.

Hahaha. Come on. Is that source a tabloid or something? The soldiers using the robot probably said, "Oh crap!" and turned it back off using the remote control that operates the thing.

reply to post by deltaboy


Agreed. While there's no doubt that we're moving rapidly in the direction of autonomous battlefield machines, these things are not autonomous and are operated remotely by humans. Its more likely that there was some type of radio frequency interference in the area, which made them appear to act erratically.

Well what can you say, machines have been turning on humans for years! [looks to old PC that decided to wipe its own hard drive]

Still, robot combatants are certainly an interesting addition to modern warfare, I wonder how long it will be before a robot wins a medal on honour!

manufacturer's website, which confirms these are the only DOD certified "remotely" controlled live fire robots:

www.foster-miller.com...

reporting,

Sri Oracle

[edit on 11-4-2008 by Sri Oracle]

A little something, a robot, computer or computer program are only as good as you make them. We are a long ways from perfecting something like Skynet with the ability to create smarter and/or tougher robots.
Plus in the meantime before we create something that is completely adaptive and autonomous, we can be working on something like creating an ethics processor for robots, something for it to distinguish between the good and the bad, etc.

reply to post by Britguy


LOLOLOL, That could explain it. If they are running Vista, that would be why they are not compatible with anyone. But on the other hand it might be a good thing as once they have their first upgrade, they will be in a continuous Reboot cycle, and wont have a chance to harm friendlies

If we are to destroy ourselves whether it be by killer robots, nuclear war or climactic catastrophe then isn't it safe to assume that's the way most other technologically advanced civilizations go.

The problem with AI is that if it becomes too intelligent, they may go all the way to their first directive: Protecting us.

When the AI sees that we are the biggest threat to ourselves, they may put us all in jail, or kill us all, to protect us.... Funny isn't it?

reply to post by Vitchilo


That was the motive for the AI Network from the iRobot movie. Now all we need are a bunch of killer nanobots to prevent anything like that from happening.

reply to post by solidshot


These bots are remote controlled by soldiers. The bots just cant turn on its comrades. The soldier controlling it would have to make it turn on them.

Come on everyone, do you really think we have robots patrolling the streets that make their own decisions? We're not quite there yet, which is why I would take this article with a grain of salt. Our robotic ops are all currently controlled by soldiers through remote control systems. Nothing is on its own making its own decisions.

This article really wreaks of..... BS!

reply to post by walsbg22

Your right they are remote controlled by someone, but I think the problem was a malfunction or something. I could see how the the drive motor on one side is stuck on, and turned the robot around pointing the other way. That would be a simple problem but pretty significant. Now if the drive might malfunction once in a while, who is to say the trigger might also do the same?

It is bound to happen at some point, but it won't keep them from moving forward with this technology.

sounds like to me that they didnt upgrade their windows vista ulitmate to service pack one...i dont think the robots like having normal windows vista...i can see it now... KILL HUMANS THEY GAVE US WINDOWS VISTA! KILL HUMANS! NEED SERVICE PACK ONE!

reply to post by solidshot


This what you get when your robots telecomunications switchboard is troubleshoot'd through a non-english speaking 'Guru Tech' in Sri lanka... Not to mention, the triggers are made in China

CAPTAIN - "Hey! we gotta robot revolution goin' on three clicks outside ah Bagdad! The tin men Spartans are sprayin' everything with ah pulse!! We can't turn em off!!"

Guru Tech - "Speak slowly... but hold on... I'll get my cousin in the States to translate................. Hello Rasheem."..

Originally posted by Level X
Not to mention, the triggers are made in China

Are you tellin me that there's more lead in their products than what's in the paint?

Now I'm worried.

Originally posted by Britguy little machine-gun armed robots squawking "kill the humans, kill the humans" turning and hosing down the assembled friendlies

Now just a thought... how does the robot distinguish an Iraqi terrorist from an innocent Iraqi citizen?

:shk:

Maybe the problem is the manufacturer... I read the label 'Dalek Robotics"

reply to post by Britguy


You are right. I bet they have an OS from Microsoft (we call them "Svista" wich means "Delete them").
But wait, i just saw the future. In 20 years from now, the soldiers will be fighting the wars from their homes using Playstation 353 or the pc version of Call of Duty 878 while the robots will do all the dirty job. And that's for the advanced. Because the less advanced people (let's say Iraq) will have to fight the robots with slings.
Once a homo erectus who was on a fight with another one, had a "unique" idea for quickly ending the fight. Picked up a hambone and killed the other one. A third homo erectus was watching the killing and said "This technology will destroy us all".
Hollywood is the Oracle of the future. Everythink that we watch in the movies, will happen in the future. Let's hope that it will not be in the 'near future'.