Is it possible to write a full post on deadly military robots without making a snarky joke about SkyNet?
Nope. The foot soldiers in the future super-computer overlord’s army aren’t the Terminator series robots, but mechanized drones, like the Israeli killer robot its army has just developed, called the Guardium.
This isn’t just a remote controlled killbot, though; the Guardium is autonomous, meaning it makes its own decisions on who to shoot. What could possibly go wrong?
We’re guessing a lot. The machines run on software, and software can be faulty. We’re hoping we never encounter one of these mechanized killers.
I hope it doesn’t run using XP or god forbid Vista… otherwise we are all screwed!
Jon
http://woodmarvels.com - Create Unique Memories!
That article is misquoting an Israeli newspaper reporting on the vehicle. It says earlier in the article the following:
“Like the pilot-less drones that have become a mainstay of air forces in Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere, the four-wheeled Guardium is operated from a command room that can be far from the front line. It can be mounted with cameras, night-vision equipment and sensors, as well as more lethal tools like machine guns.
Following pre-programmed routes, it can navigate alone through cities - the vehicle knows how to deal with intersections, traffic and road markings. It can patrol borders, its cameras scanning 360 degrees at all times, and alert operators if it spots anything suspicious.”
It says nothing about the machine firing its weapons without a humans press of a button. The use of the word ‘compunction’ (which the article you linked to uses in its title) was to imply that it would not question its commander (the man in the control room) when it tells it to shoot. Here is the original article in English: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978716.html
Just to clarify, your statement “This isn’t just a remote controlled killbot, though; the Guardium is autonomous, meaning it makes its own decisions on who to shoot.” is completely inaccurate.