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Robot Balloon Escapes In Britain

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the skynet-with-a-paunch dept.

tjake writes "Theres an interesting story running about a intelligent robot balloon that escaped its handlers while being transported around the Magna Science Adventure Centre. "The flyborg has a computerised brain which allows it to avoid obstacles. " It was freed by "a very strong freak gust of wind which ripped the airship out of the hands of its handlers". I'm thinkin, is this a random mistake or the start of the attack?"

4 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. Flyborg now over Netherlands by sbszine · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a follow up story at the BBC which projects that flyborg may have left the country by now and travelled 300 miles to the Netherlands. Classic stuff.

    --

    Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling

  2. Rise of the Machines by caitsith01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has happened before... remember this story about a robot escaping from a building and making its way to the parking lot?

    --
    Read Pynchon.
  3. Re:intelligent? by bigsteve@dstc · · Score: 5, Informative

    I heard a radio interview with the baloon's developer on the BBC World Service last night. When the ballon got loose, it's battery got ripped off and hence its "brain" is "dead". (The developer made this very clear ... in response to a series of decidedly lame questions by the interviewer.) Any discussion of the "intelligence" (or otherwise) of this this particular balloon is moot.

  4. No Brain by hibachi · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was listening to Professor Noel Sharkey on the radio a few minutes ago, he is one of the designers of the robot. Apparently, and unfortunately in my opinion, the flying robot doesn't have its computer connected, so it is flying mindlessly.