iRobot land mine clearing robot

[Admin]

If you like robots and rockets and explosions, this is for you.

If you don't want robots to take over the world, you might want to pretend this thread doesn't exist

iRobot 710 Warrior with APOBS

[madsci1016]

Well, that's one way to clear the playground.


Launch system looks like a Pac-bot variant.

Also woot for a Naval Warfare Center!!! I wish more of the stuff I did was approved for public release. :-(

[Admin]

I wrote up a short article here about it:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/irobot-demonstrates-their-latest-war-robot

I got to see the insides of this robot last year, and its really well built actually.

[SmAsH]

Damn, the stuff they're putting on our battlefields...

[MikeK]

Not really a robot, is it?  It's remote controlled.  Neat idea, though.

[amando96]

Gotta love explosives 

[madsci1016]

Not really a robot, is it?  It's remote controlled.  Neat idea, though.

The Navy's stance on this is no robot that is autonomous or thinks for itself can have the power to shoot or explode something. There must always be a human in the loop.

Also nice article John, I especially love

"disclaimer: I am neither condoning nor condemning the weaponization of robots, just stating the facts that I am aware of."

lol.

[Admin]

The Navy's stance on this is no robot that is autonomous or thinks for itself can have the power to shoot or explode something. There must always be a human in the loop.

The day that a robot is less likely to cause friendly fire or accidentally target civilians is when it'll be considered immoral to let humans make the decision

Then again, if humans incorrectly fire the weapon 5% of the time, and the robot only 1%, can you blame the robot (or the company that made it) for that 1%?

I especially love

"disclaimer: I am neither condoning nor condemning the weaponization of robots, just stating the facts that I am aware of."

lol.

I often work for the US military, so I need to be careful what I say

[vinito]

A string of exploding hotdogs, pulled by a small rocket and braked with a parachute?
That's not irobot nor the US military. That's something the coyote bought from ACME.



They need make the rocket whistle like a dive bomber. Then the package would be complete.
 

[Admin]

hmmmm my article just appeared on SlashDot:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/06/01/1455233/IRobot-Demonstrates-New-Weaponized-Robot
(no, I didn't submit it)

And the IEEE editor decided to make some big changes to my article - he did have good points though . . .