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Robot Wars

EyesWideOpen writes "According to this New York Times article (free reg. req.) the Office of Naval Research is coordinating an effort to determine what it will take to build a system that will make it possible for autonomous vehicles (in the air and on the ground), or A. V.'s, to serve as soldiers on the battlefield. The project, called Multimedia Intelligent Network of Unattended Mobile Agents, or Minuteman, would consist of a network in which the highest-flying of the A. V.'s 'will communicate with headquarters, transmitting data and receiving commands. The commands will be passed along to a team of lower-flying A.V.'s that will relay them in turn to single drones serving as liaisons for squadrons of A.V.'s.' The article also mentions that the A. V.'s will have the ability to send high resolution color video as well as still photographs using MPEG-4 compression. Pretty interesting stuff."

7 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Question... by T3kno · · Score: 3, Funny

    In order to be pollitically correct are they going to build a female version called MinuteMaid?

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    (B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
  2. Sure by scott1853 · · Score: 3, Funny

    And they can use that wonderfully accurate facial recognition technology to differentiate between good and bad guys and kill the right one.

    1. Re:Sure by ronfar · · Score: 3, Funny
      ED-209: Drop your gun! You have 10 seconds to comply

      Dick Jones: I'd do as he says. (chuckling)

      hapless victim drops gun

      ED-209: (growls) You now have 5 seconds to comply....

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      All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
  3. Gah. I can see it now... by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 4, Funny

    if (target.headgear == "turban")
    {
    FireDeathRay();
    } else {
    GlowerMenacingly();
    }

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    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  4. Have movies taught us NOTHING? by Scutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone knows all you have to do is fly your ship into the hangar of the mothership and destroy its reactor, and all the drones will cease working.

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    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
  5. Obligitory Simpson's Quote by grip · · Score: 5, Funny

    The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea.
    They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots.
    -- Military school Commandant's graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as found on the best Simpsons site http://www.snpp.com

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    Failure is not an option. It comes automatically enabled in every Microsoft product.
  6. In other news... by putrescence · · Score: 3, Funny

    Blizzard Entertainment announed its entry into the military control software market.

    Our advanced unit control interface will allow the easy, dynamic control of a large number of military units of various types. Unit divisions can be formed on-the-fly allowing for easy regrouping of units.

    Our revolutionary interface provides not only visual information but also features our advanced Aural Notification of Unit Situation system (A.N.U.S.). Simple audio queues inform the operator what military units are up to both on and off screen. Aural queues such as "daboo", "zug-zug" and "work completed" will inform operators of the current status of infrastructure units and codes such as "We're under attack!" will provide data pertaining to attack units.

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