Robocones

Anonymous Meoward writes "Researchers at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln have come up with robotic traffic barrels ('bollards', for our British readers) that can be repositioned by remote control, thus minimizing a road worker's time in harm's way. Apparently, the barrels can be grouped and positioned by an autonomous 'shepherd' unit, that is also smart enough to also remove an errant barrel from its herd. The barrels themselves are about as intelligent as.. well, orange barrels. Okay, let's cue the more obvious jokes..." Reader zombieflesheater submitted this previous attempt to mobilize road furniture.

Comments

Practical or somebody's thesis?

[grub]

"Deploying and retrieving highway markers on open roads is hazardous so the robots will reduce risks for workmen," researcher Shane Farritor said."

Are there statistics anywhere on how many workers are killed or injured while moving cones every year?
The article mentions risk without refering to hard data so it seems like a solution in search of a problem. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to know how they qualify the risk they mention or if it's a neat university project solely for the sake of being a neat university project.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Woogiemonger]

Are there statistics anywhere on how many workers are killed or injured while moving cones every year? The article mentions risk without refering to hard data so it seems like a solution in search of a problem. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to know how they qualify the risk they mention or if it's a neat university project solely for the sake of being a neat university project.

See, here's the disconnect between book smarts and street smarts, literally. Have you ever tried to cross the New Jersey Turnpike when dense traffic is going as high as 90mph? Ever play frogger? Having a way to move cones without risk is an obviously good idea. The only thing that worries me is a driver getting distracted from looking at the new technology.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Short Circuit]

In Michigan, we recently had more laws passed which are intended to protect road workers. Things like double fines for violations in construction zones. And penalties for injuring or killing a road worker.

It's a going public concern, so statistics are irrelevant.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

That doesn't answer the parent's question. Where's the data?

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Re-Pawn]

From the CDC (1998):
Among the 492 work zone fatalities, the leading occupations were construction laborer (42%), truck driver (9%), construction trades supervisor (8%), and operating engineer (8%). The most common primary sources of injury were trucks (45%), road grading and surfacing machinery (15%), and cars (15%). Seventy-four percent of the work zone fatality victims were employed privately, the remainder by state or local governments (13% each). In 318 of the 465 vehicle and equipment-related fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims of these events were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle (154 fatalities) as by a passing traffic vehicle (152 fatalities). Incidents involving backing vehicles were prominent among the 154 worker-on-foot fatalities that occurred within the confines of the work zone (51%).

Definitely not an epidemic, though it appears that the workers themselves cause about half of the accidents.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Trailwalker]

There is no exageration about the deadliness of hightway work site accidents. Open and closing lanes is very dangerous - there is a small number of motorists who think that flaggers are there just to annoy them.

Some observations from a former flagger.

Every female with a drooling brat in school believes that nothing should stop her from picking up little Damien and taking him home to torture the new cat.

A coworker pointed out that our signs have words on them. This confuses motorists.

Most localities seem to have a tax on turn signal usage. Therefore, most motorists never use them. If they do use them, they are going straight anyway.

Elderly people have tunnel vision. They will never see the flagger at the side of the road.

From personal observation: An 80,000 lb haulers rig will stop a motorist who runs past a flagger station. So will any large yellow machine with CAT printed on its side.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[jmh55]

Perhaps not many road workers get killed, but perhaps that's because they don't work at the highest risk times e.g. during the day.
But then you have to pay night-shift wages, and avoiding these could help make the idea economic.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Simonetta]

The project will reduce the need for expensive no-skill workers and redirect the money to electronic engineers, designers, and technicians.

All great advances in electronics start as weird ideas and then advance to 'solutions in search of a problem'.
There has always been a point where the proponents and developers realize that they have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to develop something that could have been done much simpler and easier with human workers. This nadir is almost always the turning point where economies of scale resulting from Moore's Law begin to kick in and the new technical application begins to become known and accepted by the general public.
Wealth is created by new technologies developed through digitization of ordinary processes (like moving around traffic cones) when the ordinary process is split into seperate parts in a way that couldn't be done without the digitization process.
Then they are reassembled in ways that not only accomplish the original task, but add features that provide levels of economic utility that were impossible by the old way of doing the specific task.

This is an overly simplicitic overview of 'general theory' of the effect of digitization of a medium or process. It's too bad the Marshall McLuhan died at the near beginning of the personal computer age. He would have had valuable insight into the nature of the effect of the digitization process on media in general.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[74nova]

The only thing that worries me is a driver getting distracted from looking at the new technology.

i agree that this might be a problem, but i think a bigger problem would be the workers driving this things around trying to play frogger with them, hehe. i would.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Definitely not an epidemic, though it appears that the workers themselves cause about half of the accidents.

Of course. Have you ever spent much time with construction workers? Lets just say that most of them do not hold degrees in Rocketology.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Merk]

Even worse, I think it could be a real hazard to drivers.

Right now, if a construction worker is setting up or moving cones or barrels, an approaching driver will know the cones or barrels are about to move because there's a large person (most likely wearing a reflective vest) moving around near the barrels, and most good drivers will slow down and make sure they give him/her some space.

Can you imagine what'll happen when you're approaching some traffic barrels and all of a sudden they start moving on their own? All of a sudden, the lane that was open is now blocked by a whole bunch of traffic cones! "The bollards, which are connected via a radio link, move at just over a metre a second." That's fast. I can just picture drivers swerving to avoid them barrels which are suddenly in their path, losing control of their cars, and possibly killing someone.

The only way I can see this working is to make them move really, really slowly. If they do that, then any given passing driver will be unlikely to notice them moving. They'll effectively be stationary for each passing driver, but after a few minutes they'll be reconfigured. Any faster than about 1cm/second and these things are going to cause accidents. But don't worry, you can protect the accident scene with these funky new moving traffic barrels!!! Oh... wait...

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Definitely not an epidemic, though it appears that the workers themselves cause about half of the accidents.

many of the dip-heads that think that construction zones mean SPEED FASTER certianyl dont help.

I wish they would allow construction workers to throw crap as the total morons that speed in construction zones.

the #1 threat to workers on the road is the morons that have no right to drive.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[trentblase]

Penalties for killing a road worker??? What's the world coming to! This along with the laws banning hunting from motor vehicles is going to ruin construction hunting season for me.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[SEWilco]

Have you ever spent much time with construction workers? Lets just say that most of them do not hold degrees in Rocketology.

That's because the Rocketherapy license is sufficient for most construction workers. With the remotely controlled barrels, Rocket Jockey training will be sufficient.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[trentblase]

In the SF Bay Area (and no doubt other places as well) we have plastic traffic poles that pop in and out of the ground. Ok, so it's not quite so whack-a-mole-esque, but it's still freaky. Can't find a fun link, but they do it around to Caldecott tunnel.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Sapwatso]

What would really be helpful is construction zone signs that could be switched on and off remotely when people were actually working. At least in upstate NY, the work zone signs usually seem to be indicating that work may at some point have happened, or will happen eventually, so why don't you slow down just in case.

Not that speeding in work zones is justified, but I'm sure more people would slow down if they knew the signs actually meant something.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[SEWilco]

From personal observation: An 80,000 lb haulers rig will stop a motorist who runs past a flagger station. So will any large yellow machine with CAT printed on its side.

So traffic barrels should be yellow, with CAT printed on the side, and with an 80,000 lb weight inside. Did you put that in the suggestion box?

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a more interesting technique that works the road while the traffic moves on top - the technique is discussed here http://www.ecu.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/new/road.htm. I recall vaguely some group in the US also received funding to do a very similar project a few years ago.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone else noticed that the abbreviation of assistant professor is "Ass Prof" on the BBC website?

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[GCP]

Seems to me that a better question is the relative risk of human workers moving traffic barriers versus risks of self-moving traffic barriers.

Traffic obstacles that move themselves in front of you sound like a great way to get cars to run into each other, and if you add in the potential for malfunctions... well, as I said, the question is still a statistical one, but not solely one of how many workmen are currently being killed.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[maximilln]

What the CDC doesn't mention is that, if you're working on a road crew, trying to pay the rent, manage four kids, and work outdoors every day, there's a significantly higher probability that these people wanted to step in front of a truck.

No one jumps in front of a car because it's too unreliable (15%). Wait for a nice juicy Peterbilt (45%).

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Jackazz]

From the year 2020 statistics:
In 318 of the 465 vehicle and equipment-related fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims of these events were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle (104 fatalities) as by a passing traffic vehicle (102 fatalities), or a runaway robotic orange barrel (100 fatalities).

I for one welcome our new orange barrel overlords.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[iNetRunner]

Are you sure they have the mental capacity to play frogger (or operate this new machinery)? *j/k..*

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[rthille]

I love the 'prepare to stop' signs.

When I'm driving a car, I figure I should always be prepared to stop. I mean, is there really a big preparation that has to happen? Put down the sandwich makings and drive?

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Trailwalker]

The hauler weighs about 80,000 lbs GVW. Thats a 3 or 4 axle dump truck. The large yellow machines are much more massive. The counterweight alone on a CAT 325 track excavator weighs about the same as the loaded dump truck. When an automobile runs into a large machine, you can scrape the car off with a stick. A can of yellow spray paint will fix the CAT.

Re:Practical or somebody's thesis?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish they would allow construction workers to throw crap as the total morons that speed in construction zones.


I wish they'd make the construction workers stop loafing and start working.

Avoiding Cars...

[LostCluster]

This seems like a great idea for spreading out cones in a lane that's already closed, but what's there to warn drivers that a usually-stationary cone is about to move when there's no orange-vested human picking them up?

Re:Avoiding Cars...

[Dr Caleb]

And what happens when you stop in the closed lane - then they suddenly have you surrounded because some worker has a really twisted sense of humour? :)

Re:Avoiding Cars...

[AKAImBatman]

And what happens when you stop in the closed lane - then they suddenly have you surrounded because some worker has a really twisted sense of humour?

I'd say that it would then be a good time to make like a Bond movie.

"Hang on to your hat Martha! It's going to be a bumpy ride. YEEEHAAA!!!"

Re:Avoiding Cars...

[pjt33]

Presumably the idea is that the operator waits until the lane is clear. I must say the traditional approach of using a large vehicle with flashing lights to block the lane seems just as practical.

Re:Avoiding Cars...

[Anonymous Coward]

They are still just barrels.

And semis will still play kickball with them.

Re:Avoiding Cars...

[SEWilco]

This is a job for a remotely-controlled large vehicle with flashing lights. And if the shepherd barrel is left on the vehicle, the other barrels will follow it to the desired location.

Re:Avoiding Cars...

["Zow"]

but what's there to warn drivers that a usually-stationary cone is about to move when there's no orange-vested human picking them up?

That's the first thing I wondered too. I mean, I can just imagine driving along with one of my pals and going, "Dude, did that road cone just move?"

"Naw, you're just imagining things."

"No, there goes another!"

"Dude, I saw that! I think they're trying to get us! Step on it!

It has to be done

[JamesD_UK]

In Soviet Russia cones traffic you! Seriously though, I'd hate to be on the roads whilst an army of traffic cones went haywire, wandering into my way. It's bad enough having hundreds of stationary ones :-)

Uhhh...

[Paulrothrock]

I for one welcome our new robo-bollard overlords.

Re:Uhhh...

[Paulrothrock]

To continue my post: Is it me or do you just wanna run over those damn cones/barrels/card-type things? Your stuck in traffic next to a perfectly good road that's blocked off by those damn traffic control devices. And you just want to yank the wheel over, plow through a couple of them and take off.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's because I live in the land of perpetual road construction

Re:Uhhh...

[calags]

And they all look like this:

Overlord

Re:Uhhh...

[noelmarkham]

I can see some kid sat on a bridge with a laptop controlling the cones in a style like Toy Story 2.

Re:Uhhh...

[SEWilco]

You don't want to hit any traffic barrels. The shepherd barrel will "remove an errant robot from the line-up", and you might get in the way of the gatling gun.

Re:Uhhh...

[WhiteDragon]

We did this once. I was about 13, and on vacation with my family in our 1978 Lincold Contintal Town Car (one of the largest standard prodution cars ever made, so no nimble manuvering). We were driving down the highway in some midwestern city (I don't remember which, maybe Indianapolis) doing about 65 miles per hour, and there was some road construction, nothing serious, until suddenly without warning (or with a warning that we didn't see), there were a bunch of those barrels and a sign that said "Lane Ends". Not "Lane ends 1000 feet", but "Lane Ends". We swerved, and managed not to hit any other cars. We did however run over one of the sand filled barrels. Sand flew everywhere, then the barrel was gone! There was a terrible scraping sound coming from the bottom of our car (remember we were still going pretty fast), so at the next chance, we pulled over at an exit (another annoyance of construction zones is when they have no shoulders), and sure enough, the barrel was being dragged under the car. The car was fine, but we were a little shaken up!

Self Healing Minefield

[SmackCrackandPot]

All you have to do now is replace these cones with mines, add some pattern recognising AI, and you have the Self Healing Minefield.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Ours]

I dont thing minefields are often put on nice flat patches of highway. And there robots are probably not build to drive on uneven terrain. I'd rather see a life-preserving robot like this not have any military applications.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Araneas]

Combine both. Self healing traffic cone array with a serious deterrant against not obeying the lane closure signs.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Short Circuit]

Ideally, cones should be very massive, so as to reduce the kinetic energy of a car voilating the lane limits. Resulting damage to the car would a significant deterrant.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[drinkypoo]

You don't need AI. You just need one of these and to put a little more processing power into the "mines" (the military is always happy to throw money at shit which will explode, they ought to just make a money bomb and get it over with) so that they can be a mesh network and do the pattern recognition. The system already uses image recognition to decide where the things should go, and it's not artificially intelligent, nor does it need to be.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Paulrothrock]

You can have your self-healing minefield once everyone else can have replacement limbs. Minefields are a terrorist weapon that don't turn off and don't know the difference between friend, foe or civilian.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[zx75]

Don't give them ideas. We already have problems with tens of thousands of unexploded mines, so much so that most of the developed world has signed anti-landmine treaties (minus the US of course) that we don't need self-repositioning mines. All that would do is we could never clear a safe area from landmines without finding every single one in the field.

It may be a good 'strategic' idea, but it is a despicable one from a humanitarian point of view.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[ogma]

Isn't there something disgustingly twisted about calling a mine-field 'self-healing'?

I would have thought 'healing' was a more appropriate word for what the poor souls who encounter such a mine-field would need.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Chep]

Aaah, now I found a use for all that depleted uranium stockpile...

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[SmackCrackandPot]

I certainly agree with the following comments about the use of mines (and all other violent methods of solving political/territorial disputes).

I really believe that this technology (remotely-controlled platforms that can move into pre-programmed patterns) could have many more life-saving applications. Add lights and you could create emergency runways.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[DeRobeHer]

Man, I read that as "mimes"

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[SEWilco]

Aaah, now I found a use for all that depleted uranium stockpile...

Depleted uranium is a good choice. Trust me, you don't want to stockpile enriched uranium. It's really hard to keep the pile together.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Anonymous Coward]

Modern mines do turn off.

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[nxs212]

Stick plumber's plunger and a wisk on it and you've got yourself a Darlek!

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Anonymous Coward]

don't know the difference between friend, foe or civilian.

Friend- the one who put the mines there, so they know they're there.

Foe- boom.

Civilian- WTF is a civilian doing in a war zone?

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Anonymous Coward]

>Civilian- WTF is a civilian doing in a war zone?

But what happens after the war's over?

For that matter WTF is your war zone doing in my flower bed??

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[Anonymous Coward]

>All that would do is we could never clear a safe
>area from landmines without finding every single one
>in the field.

You can't do that anyway, if you leave a mine you haven't cleared the field, it is still not safe.

The self-healing minefields are at least on the surface where they can be seen. (Which doesn't mean I think they're a good thing.)

Re:Self Healing Minefield

[zx75]

True that you can't clear a minefield unless you find every single one, however most commonly what is done are paths are cleared through a minefield and still dangerous areas are roped off so that people know not to go there. It doesn't guarantee areas are safe, but they are much safer than if the mines decided to redistribute in your previously cleared areas.

We can give traffic workers robocones...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but we still can't manage to make them work at night when there is no traffic. I look forward to a future of driving past robots who are sitting around doing nothing but drinking oil.

Re:We can give traffic workers robocones...

[MoneyT]

Truth be told, I've been through contruction sites during both night and day, and I prefer driving through them during the day, even if it means more traffic. Simply put, at night it's much harder to see these people and keep an eye out than it is during the day.

Re:We can give traffic workers robocones...

[Anonymous Coward]

Truth be told, I've been through contruction sites during both night and day, and I prefer driving through them during the day, even if it means more traffic. Simply put, at night it's much harder to see these people and keep an eye out than it is during the day.

Either that or don't hire any niggers to do roadwork.

Flocking Road Cones

[pararox]

Personally, I'd be more interested in seeing the development of flocking road cones. But that's just me :)

-pararox-

Re:Flocking Road Cones

[DjMd]

What is next?

People being attacked by gangs of 'Keep Left' signs

Re:Flocking Road Cones

[r84x]

I would just like to point out that I referenced the UNL cones at halfbakery over a year ago.

From halfbakery-

link

"Baked in a sense by my college, Nebraska. They have orange barrels with robotic bases controlled by a "general" using GPS and such. I talked to the guy in charge of the project a while back, and they have something here that is really getting interest from many roads departments. Check out my link above. r84x, Oct 01 2003"

I just wanted to take credit for that.

Original Article

[moon_monkey]

The original article can be found here.

Watch out for...

[Anonymous Coward]

vicious Gangs of "Keep Left" signs!

Re:Watch out for...

[catdevnull]

that was my immediate thought as well!

Re:Watch out for...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet it had nothing to do with the link in the article body, oh no, not at all!

Re:Watch out for...

[AnonymousKev]

Now, now. Those aren't even proper "Keep Left" signs. And he's not a proper Vicar -- his hair's too long. Off with you now.

EU legislation to follow?

[NevDull]

Will there be a requirement for half the barrels to be standing around doing nothing, as per union rules?

If they're deployed in France, how long until they go on strike?

Re:EU legislation to follow?

[Jonathan Hamilton]

If they're deployed in France, how long before France thinks they are from some invading country and surrenders to them?

Why don't they have fireworks at EuroDisney?
Cause if they did the French would try to surrender every night.

Re:EU legislation to follow?

[mdielmann]

Moreover, will road cones that aren't working (or on strike) be required to be constantly moving while in that state? After all, they seem to work best when they are stationary...hey, I'm qualified to be a road cone!

Important feature?

[Mononoke]

Have they worked out a way to have one cone doing its job while 5 other cones gather around and watch?

Re:Important feature?

[Bozdune]

Speaking of standing around watching, have they figured out how to build little blow-up State Police cars with working bubblegum machines, so as to fool the motorists into thinking there's a real cop nearby?

Sure would save the overtime they're currently paying the real cops, several of whom seem to be standing around watching at any given time.

This should just be the start

[Deag]

From the bbc article the bollards move slowly. And I think if they worked well, it's a good idea.

But it should just be the start. I want to see whole roads like this. Lots of traffic going to A? well we'll just move some of the roads going to C. I see lots of them like big snakes swirling around the sky relaying themselves so that our road networks are alot more efficent. We could all end up alot more lost, but what harm?

Re:This should just be the start

[Short Circuit]

That'll require automated navigation on the car's part. I certainly wouldn't be able to navigate it manually...

Re:This should just be the start

[drinkypoo]

What harm? If I'm in a hurry to get somewhere and my route changes to make it longer, I'm going to have to drive faster to get there on time, which makes me (theoretically) more dangerous.

There are cities in which they have a center lane which toggles direction at certain times of day, which is pretty much the functional upward limit.

Re:This should just be the start

[CreatureComfort]

Somebody's been watching too much Harry Potter and the moving staircases.

Re:This should just be the start

[meringuoid]

From the bbc article the bollards move slowly.

And that, at least, is a plus point. Can you imagine the horror if they were fast? We'd have vicious gangs of Keep Left signs molesting motorists and pedestrians and...
OK, stop that. It's far too silly. It started as a nice skit about old women mugging young men, but now it's just silly. And you can tell those are not proper Keep Left signs. Be off, the lot of you. And you, come with me. Now, something sensible and military: precision drilling. SQUAAAD - CAMP IT UUUP!

Re:This should just be the start

[displaced80]

I see lots of them like big snakes swirling around the sky relaying themselves

... and laying tarmac behind them? Won't the whole place be tarmac'd over eventually?! :)

Neat idea though. In a similar fashion (IIRC), there's a road in Singapore whose central reservation moves automatically. So, during the morning when everyone's heading into the city, the reservation moves over to provide more lanes for the traffic flow. During the day, it moves back to the middle. Then, for the journey home, it moves to the other side to allow for the returning traffic.

Great idea -- would love to know how it's done (assuming I've not imagined it).

Re:This should just be the start

[Anonymous Coward]

Route 90 in Illinois does this when you get near the Chicago city limits. From morning to afternoon the lane leads towards the city. In evening they close the gates on one side and open them on the other so it leads away from the city. It's only two lanes, but it lets you skip past the congestion that gets created at several on/off ramps.

Orange cones probably wouldn't be any worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

...than our current overlords.

"shepherd unit"

[TubeSteak]

That would suggest to me that it works wirelessly... Maybe someone will bring new meaning to the phrase "War Driving".

How long until a bunch of bored slash-nerds g out and round up enough cones to spell PENIS on the highway?

Re:"shepherd unit"

[MattC413]

Probably only slightly less time than it will take for the advertising industry to hire those same slash-nerds to spell out VIAGRA and thus invent a new type of mass-media advertising - robot cone hijacking marketing.

Re:"shepherd unit"

[3dr]

Imagine a flash-mob of mobile traffic cones.

And then, imagine a beowolf...

In Soviet Russia, traffic cones MOVE YOU!

Aiiieeeeee!! Hot grits and Natalie Portman! I'm having a slashdot flashback.

Re:"shepherd unit"

[Lord_Dweomer]

Or worse....use the cones to direct traffic to their store.

"Hey....I didn't want to go to Wal-Mart!"

Re:"shepherd unit"

[Anonymous Coward]

Penis on the highway?

I'm waiting for the goatse man on one of those fancy Digital Billboards

Highway workers

[Anonymous Coward]

Anything is an improvement over those highway "workers" who sit there eating sandwiches and doing nothing except standing up to pee on fenders of passing cars.

Great!

[crc32]

"We're designing the system in such a way that the barrels are very stupid

Great, more union road workers... now nothing will ever get done!

so that they are very reliable and inexpensive.

Psahw!

Lawsuits

[DaHat]

I can see the lawsuits now! Either one of these cones feels suicidal and it moves it's self into traffic only to get hit at high speed... or someone realizes that they are able to move and runs into one on purpose, in either case, instant profit for who ever hits em.

It is similar to the old Q of if we had cars which could drive themselves... who is to blame when two computer driven cars get into an accident with each other.

Re:Lawsuits

[lechuck80]

who is to blame when two computer driven cars get into an accident with each other

Linux!

Re:Lawsuits

[Anonymous Coward]

who is to blame when two computer driven cars get into an accident with each other.

Um same thing as now, whoever is responsible for the mistake is who to blame. Why do you think things suddenly change for "computer driven cars"??

Re:Lawsuits

[DaHat]

Your statement is overly broad, yes, whoever is to blame would be at fault... do you think it'd be easy to determine who is to blame if both 'drivers' were doing something other then watching the road (which they'd be able to do with such a system)? When we have the computer driven car, the 'who' can be taken out of the equation and it becomes 'what'.

Is the driver of the car to blame at fault because they were not in control of their vehicle at the time? Part of the reason the technology would exist would be to permit the 'driver' from having to watch the road and their surroundings at all times and let them do other things.

Is the car AI maker to blame for building an AI that screwed up in some way? Such at technology would not be intended as a driver replacement but as a driver enhancement, similar to ABS breaks or more advanced forms of traction control. They can help the driver out immensely, but they cannot replace intelligence behind the wheel. In this area of blame, it is often difficult to define a proper level of vendor/maker liability for defects in their product.

There are plenty of areas in the world where we turn over our own control of things to technology and let the code of a programmer decide what is best. This is fine and dandy so long as things work, and there have been plenty of high profile screw-ups where a software or hardware error caused a breakdown of a physical system or even death. Assigning blame for them is rarely an easy task.

Re:Lawsuits

[Lumpy]

All it takes is one clever hacker kid to devise the hardware and wrote the software to use these to their advantage...

imagine a high speed chase and after the car flies through the construction zone the barrels instantly move into traffic in front of the police.

Sorry, self moving barrels are a bad idea... how about a vehicle that can move them with a scoop/chute setup at 30mph?(~45Kph)

Re:Lawsuits

[Shimbo]

I can see the lawsuits now! Either one of these cones feels suicidal and it moves it's self into traffic only to get hit at high speed...

I can see great opportunities for a Robotic Psychiatrist to counsel suicidal and traumatized road cones.

Re:Lawsuits

[nytmare]

Regular barrels already do get displaced into the traffic lane sometimes, without the benefit of robotics. And barrels are already designed to get hit without causing serious damage; they are hollow and disconnect from their base.

International English

[Anonymous Coward]

('bollards', for our British readers)

"British" = International.

American English is only (officially) spoken in the USA. British English is what's spoken in Britain + what's taught everywhere else in the world to us non-native English speakers.

Re:International English

[Anonymous Coward]

Not true. American English is very often taught in foreign countries.

Re:International English

[Anonymous Coward]

Correcting errors in the OP is not "Offtopic", Mr Fucktard Moderator.

Re:International English

[Mateito]

In Australia we refer to them as "cones" too. In some parts they are still known as "Witches Hats".

Having said that, if you ask your mates if they'd like to join you to pull a couple of "Witches Hats", they wouldn't know what you were on about.

(Hopefully, this is not a oblique surf culture reference).

Re:International English

[Anonymous Coward]

Foreign countries such as Alabama?

Of course AE is taught, but only in the way that we learn the differences between the English dialects. Teaching and testing is done in British/International English.

In what country are you suggesting that AE is taught instead of (International/British) English?

Re:International English

[Anonymous Coward]

"(Traffic) cones" is universally used, I believe, including most other languages than English (well, whatever the words for "cone" are in the other languages, duh).

But a bollard/barrel isn't the same thing as a cone, is it?

Re:International English

[Mateito]

> But a bollard/barrel isn't the same thing as a cone, is it?

No, cones dont explode when you BFG them.

Re:International English

[pjt33]

In Britain, the conical items used by, for example, the Highway Agency are known as "cones", and "bollards" are fixed cylindrical objects.

Re:International English

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never called them bollards and neither does the Highways Agency. Everyone in Britian calls them cones. A bollard is a concrete or steel cylinder, usually cemented into the ground.

Re:International English

[basingwerk]

You can have square bollards, too, and concrete ones. The brits also have plastic bollards, with lights underneath that shine up from the road. These usually get knocked over after a bit.

Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[Zerbey]

I can just see it now... a bunch of highly intoxicated students riding around on these and getting themsleves arrested. Sounds like fun!

"Sir, is that your bollard?"
"Um... no shir"
"Are you a student?"
"Yesh shir"
"*sigh* Put it back will you?"
"OK shir, thanksh you"

(I had carried the thing for 3 miles by this point)

Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[troc]

I was once followed for over a mile by the police to make sure I did deposit both the cones and the shopping trolley they were in, back in their respective homes.

heh

Troc.

Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about the excuse, "The bollard followed me, officer! Honestly!"

Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[RESPAWN]

I remember once stealing a cone on the freeway with a cop car on the other side of ours. I didn't even know he was there until after I had closed the door and was looking around, cone in my lap. Thankfully he didn't see me.

I think our best "drunken acquisition" however was a car door we found lying on the street outside a bar we used to frequent. The reaction on our fourth roommate's face when he came home the next afternoon was priceless. As were the reactions of most people when they came over to our apartment and saw a dented white car door from a late 80's Ford Crown Victoria, complete with window and mirror attached, lying in the middle of our living room floor. Talk about an ice breaker.

Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[91degrees]

Talk about an ice breaker.

Pah. If you want an icebreaker, put one of these in your living room.

Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard?

[mrogers]

Whereas now you could just program the cones to go home on their own... and you'd be snoring contentedly by the time the police realised you'd actually programmed them to reduce the width of the M25 by one centimetre a week.

Serioushly Offisher ...

[BabyDave]

I didn't drive into those cones - they got up and ran in front of me!

What? Yes, I know I said that about the tree last week. No, I'm 100% sober ...well, maybe 87%.

Attack of the Robo-cones!

[nlinecomputers]

What will happen when the drivers hit the cones? Will they strike back? I can just see having to avoid kamakaze attack cones.

Re:Attack of the Robo-cones!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see it now...

"HOLY CRAP! A beowulf cluster of cones! RUN!!!"

How accurate

[HarvardAce]

How accurate will these new robo-cones be? Having lived on Long Island for 8 years, I've dealt with many, many cones in my day. I've seen problems where a single cone that is a foot farther out than it should be has caused major traffic problems, because the cone is making an already too narrow lane even narrower. And when you're going 80mph on the LIE, that can spell trouble.

Re:How accurate

[YrWrstNtmr]

hmm...maybe you shouldn't be going 80mph through a construction zone.

Re:How accurate

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's an idea, don't drive 80 through a work zone.

Re:How accurate

[HarvardAce]

You obviously haven't driven on the LIE. If you're not going 80mph, you'll get rear ended.

Seriously though, 80mph is a little bit of a hyperbole, but the area I've experienced is where the cones are just sitting on the side of the road while there is no construction going on. On the LIE, they actually do the construction at night. But they don't always get the barrels all the way over to the side of the road by the end of their shifts, which can just cause lots of problems (as if the LIE itself wasn't a problem already).

Robots ?

[mirko]

Why use robots when TOYS did it so well ?

What about the physical characteristic changes?

[idontgno]

Normal road cones weigh about nothing. (A couple of pounds of soft plastic. Designed to fly out of the way or crush down when struck by a vehicle.)

Does adding an RF receiver and motors add weight and rigid bulk to the cone, making it more damaging to hit?

It's bad enough if you hit one of the road cones with the battery-powered flashers on the top, but that weighs very little. I hope the folks designing these keep impact-safety factors in mind.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[leperkuhn]

The barrels are usually filled with water and can mess your car up if you drive into one or a dozen.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[lechuck80]

Those are usually found on highway exit ramps (at the fork). On small town roads, they weigh next to nothing so the local municipalities can drop 'em off the back of 'bubba's pickup truck'

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does adding an RF receiver and motors add weight and rigid bulk to the cone, making it more damaging to hit?

Do you mean relative to a 3000 pound vehicle moving at 65 mph? The answer is probably "Yes, but not significantly moreso".

Imagine your car running over one of those toy radio-controlled cars. I bet it would be like that.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[drinkypoo]

The robotics portion of this device is in the very bottom of the cone and probably weighs about the same as a radio-controlled car (since that is basically what these things are, big ugly orange computer-controlled RC cars.) It's probably significantly less weight than the rest of the "bollard". (I wonder wtf the etymology of that is, if it's similar to botts' dots...)

Er anyway the point is that the only way it will make the thing more dangerous is if you hit it hard enough to send it flying and the base of it strikes something. This is somewhat likely since the base will probably be the heaviest part of the whole thing, but you could pad it up or something and remove the majority of the risk there.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just how experienced are you at hitting road cones??

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[Trailwalker]

The water filled ones are for attenuating the speed and impact of a moving vehicle in a short distance. They are normally placed in front of an immovable object. i.e. A bridge pier.

The regular orange barrel used for lane control is completely empty. It is against all Highway Dept. regs. to place anything heavy such as rocks in them. Doing so will result in a heavy fine for the contracting firm responsible for it.

I have seen both barrels and cones knocked hundreds of feet through the air. The absence of weight also helps anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by one that has been sent flying.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[aardvarkjoe]

On small town roads, they weigh next to nothing so the local municipalities can drop ?em off the back of 'bubba's pickup truck'

If this town is using Bubba's pickup truck for the barrels, I really doubt that they're going to be able to fork out the cash for these new barrels.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[jaxdahl]

Actually, I was driving one time in Texas and there was this road crew picking up those small cones .. about half a mile down the road, there was a cone in the middle of my lane, tipped over with the gray/white bottom facing me. I could not change lanes, nor did I have enough time to slow down (65 or 70 mph) .. I hit the cone at 55+ mph and it ripped the plastic trim part that attaches directly below the front bumper (a rather sizeable piece) off. I was able to recover it, and it only had a small dent in it. I was able to reattach it easily.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[RESPAWN]

Well, if you've ever done any autocross racing, you tend to gather a lot of experience when you first start out. I can definitely attest to the fact that cones don't hurt too much when you hit them at speed. They may leave a little mark, but not much of one.

Re:What about the physical characteristic changes?

[mrogers]

Comes from Middle English, possibly from Old Norse "bolr" meaning tree trunk. Just off the top of my head, of course. ;-)

I can just imagine

[w3weasel]

How this will be when some overly bored slob takes the controls and decides to play with traffic.
rush hour just got a lot more interesting

I thought...

[Brando_Calrisean]

.. "robocones" were what fem-bots store their high-caliber barrels in.

No statistics

[not_a_product_id]

I don't know of any statistic but I'd assume that putting the cones down initially must be particularly hazardous. If someone drives the same route a lot they will just expect the flow of traffic to go a certain way and their brain will process any differences more slowly and they'll have to think about something that's normally automatic for them. Pretty good chance they won't see the guy in the orange vest til it's too late

Re:No statistics

[mike_mgo]

Yes, but you would normally either have a flagman or a flashing arrow trucking (depending on the location) to warn oncoming traffic. So hopefully even drivers familiar with the route would be alerted to the work going on when the barrels are initially placed.

Re:No statistics

[Major_Small]

the truck on the side of the road that's been there for months? or the flagman that just kinda ran into the open lane with nothing but an orange flag and a vest, and is competing with sun glare?

the road I drive to school has miles of closed lane on some days, and the only truck to warn you is on the shoulder, but it doesn't help that it's always there and the sun glare drowns out the lights it's displaying... and the workers have to walk for miles just to move cones... (they're already placed on the sides of the road)

do you have any idea of how long that must take?

Next step

[boatboy]

The obvious next step now will be for college students to steal them and make robotic traffic cone dorm tables.

Re:Next step

[lechuck80]

Wait till late some drunken night and they find the table moving around. "Hey Phil, what the hell was in this shit?"

Re:Next step

[zx75]

Yep, you just have to set it up on a circular track so it doesn't go anywhere when it attempts to drive itself home.

Re:Next step

[mrogers]

Dear flatmates,
PLEASE remember to SHUT THE BACK DOOR before you go out, the table escaped AGAIN today and was halfway home before I caught it.
Thanx,
Vikki

*sigh* in russia, obviously

[bdejong]

ok, this is my first atempt at genuine slashdot humor, so be kind on me.

[braces self]

In russia traffic barrels crash into you.

Re:*sigh* in russia, obviously

[Anonymous Coward]

and this is my first attempt at rude slashdot responses:

YOU FAIL IT

Re:*sigh* in russia, obviously

[chaidawg]

soviet russia, but not a bad first try

Re:*sigh* in russia, obviously

[Anonymous Coward]

In soviet russia jokes suck at you!

Re:*sigh* in russia, obviously

[BiggerIsBetter]

In soviet russia jokes suck at you!

If the jokes are naked, I'm moving to soviet russia!

Reminds me of Toy Story 2

[earthforce_1]

Remember the animated toys causing a huge pileup while crossing a busy street disguised as traffic cones?

I can also see somebody hacking into the control frequencies for these things and pulling evil pranks, which may kill somebody.

Proximty Alarms

[Short Circuit]

Once cars have proximity alarms, worker garments could be configured to set them off...

Re:Proximty Alarms

[sotonboy]

I expect that would work really well at 70 mph. Alarm ... whats that for .... ohh . oops.

Re:Proximty Alarms

[trentblase]

Sounds like you have the workings of a great pickup line... something like "hey baby, your garments set off my proximity alarms ALL NIGHT LONG"

Re:Proximty Alarms

[Short Circuit]

I live in Michigan, where we have two seasons: Winter and "Under Construction"

And traffix slows way down going through construction zones.

Correction...

[D-Cypell]

('bollards', for our British readers)

The correct terminology is 'bollocks'. Also given the nature of the text it would be more correctly expressed using 'to' rather than 'for'. Also, as the US language is obviously derivitive of true english this terminology should also be valid in the US.

So thats is...

"Bollocks to our British readers"

to which the clear and obvious response is..

"Bollocks to you too..."

Re:Correction...

[REBloomfield]

Who in the hell modded this informative?!?!?!?!?

hilarious maybe, although from reading it, the correct British term would be 'traffic cone', but that's nowhere near as funny....

Re:Correction...

[Zog The Undeniable]

This is going way [OT], but "American English" spelling is basically British English circa 1776, not a a decaying version of the Queen's English as most of us in the UK seem to believe. "British English" is the one that has evolved most. Some words had additional letters added to them by typesetters who wanted to fill a line, and these spellings stuck. There is also an obvious European influence. Remember that in the 18th century there wasn't really such a thing as correct spelling, and English had only really been a written language for a few hundred years (since Chaucer).

Re:Correction...

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans un-evolved? Makes sense. ;)

Re:Correction...

[Anonymous Coward]

The correct terminology is 'bollocks'. Also given the nature of the text it would be more correctly expressed using 'to' rather than 'for'. Also, as the US language is obviously derivitive of true english this terminology should also be valid in the US. So thats is... "Bollocks to our British readers" to which the clear and obvious response is.. "Bollocks to you too..."

Gee thanks. I now have an image of people with robotic bollocks being surprised to find their genitalia dragging them out into the highway to close off lanes...

Re:Correction...

[straybullets]

never mine the trafic cones ... here come the robo bollards !

Re:Correction...

[D-Cypell]

Who in the hell modded this informative?!?!?!?!?

Actually informative, was the mod I was going for. Its always fun to play with the language barriers.

I had a secret wish that I would go to some tech trade show to overhear a fellow slashdot reader complaining that their Journey time was effected because "The M25 is covered with bollocks" ;o).

BTW, this works both ways, I speak from experience. Entering a 7-11 in Florida and asking if this was a place I could buy some 'fags' really taught me how to back-peddle!

Re:Correction...

[Cthefuture]

('bollards', for our British readers)

What? That's an odd name. I'd have called them "chazzwazzers".

Re:Correction...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the divergence started before then - some of the words in the US disappeared in the UK in the 17th century. Bill Bryson talks about this in one of his books, Mother Tongue I think it was called.

Re:Correction...

[Anonymous Coward]

haha, i think that went over everyone's head buddy... simpsons reference anyone?

still funny tho

GREAT IDEA

[karmaflux]

We don't spend enough on road maintenance.

Perfect!

[Tenebrious1]

Steal a few of these, set them up in the street in front of my apartment to save my parking spot. When my car approaches, a RF sensor will tell the cones to part to allow my car to slide into the spot. Fantastic!

Re:Perfect!

[ignipotentis]

We could use this in chicago to replace the couches and lawn chairs more commonly used. They require manual labor to move out of the way.

Re:Perfect!

[Anonymous Coward]

In Chicago that is what lawn chairs are used for in the winter...

The future of motorsports

[Jonah Hex]

This is exactly what's missing in all of today's motorsports, robot barrels that can be controlled by remote computer or operator. And I really do mean ALL of today's motorsports, from the Indy to my local (sorta) Detroit Gran Prix and (closer) Flat Rock Speedway's Enduro 250's and Figure 8 races. Ok, so maybe they'd be a drag in one autosport... but they work for the rest!

Seriously, I don't know why more things like this can't be roboticized, from garbage cans that right themselves and walk 'round to the dumpster for a quick, um, dump; to remote control concrete barriers that are used for the more common long term lane closures here in MI. Definately more robots to come, with and without simple/complex brains.

Jonah Hex

Re:The future of motorsports

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure I like all this robotic harvesting of the traffic cones. Please, help save the cones. Join the Traffic Cone Preservation Society.

Can't wait

[nizo]

Anyone have schematics for these guys, so we can start thinking of nifty new hacks for them even before they are deployed? Maybe a helper 'bot to help my carry my groceries into the house.

Re:Can't wait

[realdpk]

Perhaps a helpful pusher bot to push grandma down the stairs? Now that'd sell!

Hi. I'm Troy McClure

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi. I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such highway robot movies as "Mad Max 6: The Road Is the Warrior" and "Coneroads" co-starring Dan Aykroyd.

stupidest idea ever

[WormholeFiend]

this is stupid and costly.

how many regular cones get accidentally crushed by traffic? or randomly flung by bigrig turbulence?

one "good" thing that is bound to happen though, is some Anonymous Coward stealing a few of them and hacking them apart and back together again (possibly even to try and run Linux on it?).

Re:stupidest idea ever

[orion41us]

Not to mention that how much waight/density does this add to the standard cone? I would hate to hit a 120 pound cone going 60 mph...

Re:stupidest idea ever

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this should have been done long ago. Why the heck should we expect anybody to risk their life by going out on a busy highway just to move a few plastic cones. Somebody should have made remote controlled cones a long time ago.

I'm a race car driver wannabe

[foxtrot]

...and I compete in SCCA Solo II autocross.

These things're gonna give me nightmares...

Re:I'm a race car driver wannabe

[tgd]

I've driven enough autocross courses where I swear the cones have moved between runs, I suspect these have been around for years.

Either that or cone shaggers can't manage to put them back at the same place every time.

What? No one posts...

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those!

I swear!

[Nuclear Elephant]

Officer, I swear those cones jumped right out in front of me!

Bright-orange witch hats

[AtariAmarok]

"In Australia we refer to them as "cones" too. In some parts they are still known as "Witches Hats"."

They are known by this name in northern Minnesota, too. In parts of the country where deer hunting is a real big deal, there were problems with witches being shot out of the sky by accident during Halloween, which occurs during bow-hunting season. The state government forced all witches to wear bright hunter's-orange hats.

The witches got angry about this, just like the Amish who objected to having orange triangles on their buggies. In fact, in 1999, one angry witch known to most as "Bemidji Bertha" passed a curse on St. Paul. It is believed that the election of Jesse Ventura was a fulfillment of the curse.

Re:Bright-orange witch hats

[Anonymous Coward]

Ventura was elected in 1998, so there must have been a curse on the space-time continuum as well.

Barrels

[blackholepcs]

[stupid]The only drawback to these barrels I see is, how do all the monkeys inside go potty if not all over themselves?[/stupid]

Other possibilities

[Patlag]

Next project for this team may be to make a robot to put cones back up wich been hit by a car driver! By the way, could it be more affordable to make a single robot to manage ordinary cones?

not true

[Anonymous Coward]

the post being modded down was in error. British = British only.

Costly Little Cones

[Gettinglucky]

It is nice to see that tax payer money can go to replacing endless cones that are used for driving target practice. Maybe they can flip them over and have them deliver ice cream on real hot days to all the workers sitting beside the road.

Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

A Beowulf Cluster of these!

3 Cone laws

[Anonymous Coward]

First Law:
A robocone may not injure a human being or automobile undercarriage, or, through inaction, allow a human being or automobile undercarriage to come to harm.

Second Law:
A robocone must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law:
A robocone must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Obstacles in path

[Frambooz]

"We're designing the system in such a way that the barrels are very stupid - so that they are very reliable and inexpensive."

The article mentions nothing about obstacles and how the bollards avoid them (obstacle detection? options for planning a path, manually or automatically?).

Road construction sites (and even roads in normal condition) usually have holes 'n dents 'n stuff, so there's a chance of having one of those "stupid" cones run into a ditch or hole, fall, and roll on to a busy road. Besides the obvious dangers of that happening, a human has to go and pick up the bollard, at a location it wasn't supposed to end up (brining along more risk for that person, too).

Workers in harms way ...

[LoudMusic]

I can agree with the bit about workers in harms way. A section of I-40 I drive everyday has been under construction for over a year. Just the other day I was coming home from work and there was a crew setting up barrels. As I approached the end of the processes I downshifted to jump into the other lane just as another worker ran out from behind a construction pickup truck with another barrel. I was about one second away from changing lanes into him at 50mph. I could never do their job - it requires that every single person driving that highway be aware of what's going on and I simply do not trust the general population.

They come from ... France

[red floyd]

Obviously these robocones come from the planet Remulak! -- I mean... France.

Slashdot, May 2008

[argent]

I can imagine the stories in Slashdot in a few years after someone breaks the security on these babies...

"We uploaded a modified Linux kernel to the bollards over their radio link..."

"With this patch, you can use any construction site as a Wifi access point..."

"This patch makes the bollards engage in autonomous 'wild dog' car-chasing behaviour..."

Robocones.

[sammy baby]

Mmm. Robocones.

Makes me want to stop by a Baskin Robots. (11111 flavors!)

Stop this thread....

[madopal]

Voice Over: And on the road too, vicious gangs of traffic control barrels.

Film: Two vicious traffic control barrels with little legs attack a vicar.

Colonel: (coming up and stopping them) Right, right, stop it! This thread's got silly. Started off with a nice little idea about automated road barrels and fatality statistics, but now it's got silly. The spelling is atrocious for a thread too. And these robot topic icons are pretty badly made as well. And those aren't proper English bollards anyway!

In other news...

[jafiwam]

University of Nebraska graduate students reported that running up stairs was an effective way to get away from the defective traffic barrels, which chased after the students yelling "EXTERMINATE!! EXTERMINATE!" even though they original design did not call for speakers or any noise making capability in the robots.

Re:In other news...

[falcon5768]

I was wondering when the joke would be made.....

Its a sad day though when even a 23 year old is made to feel very old because only one person managed to make a Dalek joke out of something that was begging for it.

Re:In other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

Humans must be pushed
They must go down the stairs

Please go stand by the stairs
So I can protect you

Reliable and Inexpensive

[azadrozny]

"We're designing the system in such a way that the barrels are very stupid - so that they are very reliable and inexpensive."

Stupid may not be the way to go. Do we really need another 4-wheeled vehicle on the road with a "stupid" driver? Maybe we should install a Shepard into all automobiles.

Beer

[smatt-man]

So how long until some student at MIT figures out how to refrigerate the cone and use it for delivering beer without getting off the couch? And where can I buy one?

Re:Beer

[orion41us]

Ohh yea, already in beta! Koolio, the Beer Delivery Robot..

Re:Beer

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah they could emit "exterminate" at 190db to thermoacoustically cool the beer.

The usual obvious jokes

[dpilot]

How about a Beowulf cluster of these?

In Russia, bollards reposition YOU!

This news makes it obvious that *BSD is dead.

My entire family is from Nebraska

[Torinaga-Sama]

My entire family is from Nebraska and what I want to know is how do they get these things to wave politely to oncoming traffic. Are there at least fail safes in place so that if someone waves to them, they don't make the grievous social faux pas of not waving back?

Yes, but

[RAMMS EIN]

"Taught", yes, but most people learn English from TV where I live, and that's definitely USAmerican.

As for spelling...I guess many people spell British, but I learnt it on the Internet, were american spelling is predominant.

Re:Yes, but

[Metatron]

But still oh so wrong ;-) *grin*

BEWARE FAKE DALEK BUILDERS CLUB!

[Queuetue]

The 'more obvious jokes' link turned up this obvious threat-level-red emergency report:

WARNING - BEWARE FAKE "DALEK BUILDERS CLUB'S" ON MSN

Please beware...some unscrupulous individuals have started creating MSN Chat groups

also called "The Dalek Builders Club". These are NOT affiliated with this

web-site in any way, shape or form. The ONLY internet chat group related to this site is the

Dalek Builders Guild at : http://groups.msn.com/TheDalekBuildersGuild/

Nobody knows the trouble I see...

[carcosa30]

and nobody knows the sorrow.

How long will it take someone to hack these?

Dancing traffic cones at curbside, anyone? How about traffic cones doing wild sufi raga dances in the middle of the highway at rush hour?

Get to it!

My perspective.

[Anonymous Coward]

I work for Nintendo in Japan, and we had Robo Bollard attachments for the NES back in the eighties. We had to discontinue them when the Light Gun technology wasn't fast enough.

keep left sign gangs already spotted?

[kaufi]

and when will we get chased by gangs of "keep left" signs?

Re:keep left sign gangs already spotted?

[The I Shing]

and when will we get chased by gangs of "keep left" signs?

Probably around the same time that we get kidnapped by babies and assaulted by Hell's Grannies.

Can't wait until somebody hacks into these...

[Warlock7]

Then there will be many more issues due to cones that start moving around the road, seemingly independantly of the road crews control.

We'll see cones lined up across all lanes of traffic and cones that just randomly start moving.

That won't cause too many problems, now will it... :D

Re:Self Healing Mimefield

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha ha! I thought you said "mimes"!

wonder how they are doing the positioning?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like GPS wouldn't be accurate enough... Maybe speed of sound and some geometry from a central base unit? Surely they aren't using relative movement from the original posisition... How would you do this for 200?

O'Reilly will soon come out with

[Anonymous Coward]

Robo-Barrel Hacks

Question still isn't answered.

[jmichaelg]

The question was "how many workers are injured deploying/retrieving hazard markers?" Your answer starts out telling us who got killed by occupational title. Then you tell us what kind of machine did the killing. Then in bold letters you tell us that in 318 out of 465 equipmnet fatalities, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Hmm, what was the worker doing? Was he deploying a hazard cone, standing around or gasp, working?

Your post is an example of flooding someone with unrelated statistics and pretending that it answers the original question.

Re:Question still isn't answered.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post is an example of flooding someone with unrelated statistics and pretending that it answers the original question.

While his post attempts to be interesting (I doubt he was trying to sway anybody's opinion one way or the other), and is actually interesting since it gives facts that one may deduce something from, You post is total pig swill, bringing nothing of interest to anybody whatsoever, so just shut the hell up numbnut.

Re:Question still isn't answered.

[jmichaelg]

since it gives facts that one may deduce something from

Well that was my point - you can't deduce the answer to the original question from the numbers the poster gave. It's a bit like asking how many people were killed while talking on a cell phone and responding with the number of people who were driving a Ford.

I'm gonna havee fun ....

[tomhudson]

I'm gonna have fun playing "Frogger" with those puppies once someone figures out how to exploit them :-)

This looks like the next "helicopter bowling" waiting to happen. Not a good idea.

orange barrels

[Xanthos28]

From the Bob and Tom CD:

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Everywhere I see!

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Looking back at me!

Look at Larry, Darryl, and Darryl
Standing next to the orange barrels,
Looking back at me.

They hold signs that say, "slow down",
I drive 25 through town,
their faces are dark and dirty and brown,
Looking back at me.

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Looking back at me!

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Why can't I be free?!

Look at Larry, Darryl, and Darryl,
Standing next to the Orange Barrels,
In their orange vest apparel,
Looking back at me.

They stand in their stinkin' sweat,
I haven't seen them working yet,
They have to pee in a port-a-let,
And their butt-cracks smile at me.

If I could fly, I'd leave this world behind,
and I'd free up my mind from this debris,
And the orange barrels looking back at me!

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Everywhere I see!

Orange barrels, Orange barrels, Looking back at me!

Look at Larry, Darryl, and Darryl
Standing next to the orange barrels,
In their orange vest apparel,
They piss off my girlfriend, Carol,
Who's sitting next to me.

She makes calls on my cell phone,
All she does is piss and moan,
I shoulda left her big fat ass at home,
Or have her service me.

Look at Larry, Darryl, and Darryl
Standing next to the orange barrels,
In their orange vest apparel,
They piss off my girlfriend, Carol,
Who's favorite act is Willie Farrel,
He's a comic just like me.

We drive through the rain and snow,
Through orange barrels, here we go,
Will the work get done? Well, no one knows,
It remains a mystery!

Finally

[CubicEntity]

Something new to confuse dogs. Does this remind anyone else of the Borg? I can see it now...hordes of AI cones assimilating regular cones into the collective.

Heh, good story...

[Cyno01]

A friend of mine has an uncle in new york, he manages to always have a parking space in front of his building with an unattached fire hydrant. Parks, puts it in his trunk (its heavy though) and replaces it when he leaves.

Re:Heh, good story...

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh, likely story...
*cough* Punisher *cough*

Re:Heh, good story...

[Sapwatso]

That sounds like too much work. Just keep a rubber garbage can in your trunk, park at an actual hydrant and put the can over the hydrant. (from the "Boston Driver's Handbook")

Flash! Daleks invade Nebraska! Film at 11

[mnemotronic]

Exterminate! Exterminate!! Exterminate!!!

Nope...

[dpilot]

I forget which episode, even which Doctor, but I distinctly remember seeing a Dalek go up stairs. It had a bluish-white glow of technobabble under the base, enabling it to ascend the stairs. (It might have been during Colin Baker's tenure, but I wouldn't stake my (anything) on it.)

Re:Nope...

[Aggrazel]

It was "Rememberence of the Daleks" in which the dalek climbed the stairs to get at the terrified Sylvestor McCoy.

The same episode gave us:

"Little green men doctor?"
"No. Little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armor."

Re:Nope...

[dpilot]

I rather liked Sylvester McCoy, rather quirky in a different way than all of the Doctors were quirky. I was rather sorry that the series ended on McCoy's watch. For another good/bad, it was good that they paid some homage to McCoy in the 1996 movie, it was bad that he might have inherited some stain from it.

I just plain didn't like Colin Baker.

Re:Nope...

[Aggrazel]

Agreed. Sylvestor was my all time favorite of the 7 original actors.

Great but...

[Anonymous Coward]

can the robotic department find a decent QB for the football team?

Well, I would imagine...

[devphil]

...that the cone begins blinking its lights on and off, brightly, just before it raises up a few inches, floats over to its new spot, and sinks back down.

Also, like the submitter pointed out, it's screaming EX-TER-MI-NATE, which will get the attention of any driver, except in New York City, where they scream that anyhow.

Toy Story 2?

[dpbsmith]

Doesn't something like this occur in Toy Story 2 in which the toys need to cross a busy street, so one of them hides under a traffic cone and rolls it into place?

Did you examine the car door?

[AtariAmarok]

"saw a dented white car door from a late 80's Ford Crown Victoria, complete with window and mirror attached, lying in the middle of our living room floor"

Did you not see the sticker on the inside edge, near the tire pressure sticker: "If found, please return to local city police department".? Next time you drive by the local Dunkin Donuts, look for the police cruiser with the missing door.

Self repairing road

[Linker3000]

Surely the ultimate solution is to develop a self-repairing/marking road surface so we don't need to cone off the road for maintenance in the first place!?

Tunneling, cable laying and undergound maintenance etc. could be done from the side of the road too.

Mind you, I can see the labour ('labor' for the yanks) unions not being too pleased about this.

Workers Unions

[Stubby]

This idea will never make it past union approval. If you can replace 5 laborers with one geek with a laptop, just to make it safer for the laborer's it will never happen. Especially with a technology that would actually cost the construction companies more money. Like any company, they are profit margin driven, but unlike corporate cultures, they are also driven by the Unions. Anything that takes jobs away will not happen. In addition, if the Government Mandates use of the new Cones/Barrels they will do everything they can to screw up the plan, and get bad PR.

CalTrans "Cone Shooter"

[Anonymous Coward]

Caltrans has a much more interesting and effective alternative for this problem ...

Be sure to watch the videos, it is truly fascinating to watch:

http://www.ahmct.ucdavis.edu/cone/cone_mn.htm

Kibo foresaw this...

[almightyjustin]

Here. (series starts here)

There is no escape!

Re:Kibo foresaw this...

[Actual Kibo]

Damn, I knew I should have updated my Web site several years ago. Oh well, too late now. I'll never get my thousands of other photos of orange cones posted before the robocones exterminate me. Best not to even try.

You can see my recent comments on the subject on alt.religion.kibology:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=group:alt.religi on.kibology+insubject:cone+OR+insubject:cones+auth or:kibo%40world.std.com&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8 &oe=ISO-8859-1&c2coff=1&safe=off&scoring=d

(Or, the old-fashioned way, open alt.religion.kibology in your favorite newsreader and select articles containing "cone" in the subject, but be careful not to accidentally read any articles by people other than me.)

-- K.

Re:Kibo foresaw this...

[MadAhab]

Holy shit, "Actual Kibo" really is Kibo! Wonders never cease. Except on ./, where you think they must be trolls. Which is why this is shocking. Because it's not. Or is, if you are of the opinion that Kibo is the greatest troll in the history of the internet.

Re:Kibo foresaw this...

[Actual Kibo]

This cone story is getting a lot of media attention (of course, since it was slashdotted.) I was just asked to telephone Scotland for a BBC Radio Scotland morning program where they wanted to do a wacky news segment on the "Dalek cones". (But I didn't get on the air because they went with Nigel Jones, who has a swell Web site that lets you blow up animated cones.)

This was the first time I've ever dialed one of those overseas phone numbers with all the extra digits in it. And all just because some mad scientist in Nebraska wants cones to run over people.

Anyway, now I hope I can go back to ignoring traffic cones (like a normal person) for the next few days, until another news story breaks about cones kidnapping the Olsen Twins or something.

-- K.

Re:Kibo foresaw this...

[almightyjustin]

Holy crap! I guess it's true what they say about Kibo responding to every post that mentions his name.

Postal Investigators??

[tommck]

Officials at the Federal Trade Commission, who planned to announce the arrests in Washington on Thursday, told U.S. postal investigators they had received more than 10,000 complaints about unwanted e-mails sent by the company. The U.S. attorney in Detroit, Jeffrey Collins, was expected at Thursday's announcement.

What does the post office have to do with anything??

Ribbed for your enjoyment

[Anonymous Coward]

... couldn't help myself.

I was at UNL a few years ago

[bmajik]

and they were talking about doing this. A few different faculty were working on it.

It was _not_ some kids thesis.

I had the same reaction everyone here is having. "Who's going to buy a multi-thousand dollar traffic barrel ?"

And the answer is..

Somebody thats had to pay even _one_ workmans comp/disability suit because one of their crew got creamed by a car or truck at highway speeds.

If you think about it, its a very unglamorous meat-space problem, but solving it with technology means working on some pretty slick stuff...

which is sort of what the UNL CS/CSeng dept was like :)

I'm sorry... Bollards?

[tommck]

Call me US-centric, but I can't sit here and read the word "bollards" over and over again... it hurts my head.

It's like "mallards" and "bollocks" had a drunken tryst and gave birth to "bollards".

So... in my world, "bollards" means "the balls of a duck"!

I don't want to read about duck balls!

What a load of...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Bollards is what most British people will also be thinking....

Sorry, had to...

[alp3t]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!

I wonder

[be951]

I wonder if this might also reduce the time that lanes are blocked when no work is being done. Seems like much of time when a lane is blocked by orange barrels (significantly slowing traffic), little or no work is being done. But (I suppose) it is not practical or safe for workers to repeatedly deploy and retrieve barrels unless a work stoppage will be for an extended time. But if the process is automated, it seems that it could be done much quicker. So instead of blocking a lane for six miles before getting to any actual roadwork because "we'll be working there eventually", they can adjust the area as needed.

Just wait for...

[mi]

Somebody hacking their communication protocol(s) to make the barrels:

• dance;
• align into patterns, such as those, that form words and slogans, when viewed from the air;
• block the traffic altogether ("Italian Job" anyone?).

That would be fun...

Solutions From Statistics

[SEWilco]

From the CDC (1998): Among the 492 work zone fatalities, the leading occupations were construction laborer (42%), truck driver (9%), construction trades supervisor (8%), and operating engineer (8%). The most common primary sources of injury were trucks (45%), road grading and surfacing machinery (15%), and cars (15%). Seventy-four percent of the work zone fatality victims were employed privately, the remainder by state or local governments (13% each). In 318 of the 465 vehicle and equipment-related fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims of these events were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle (154 fatalities) as by a passing traffic vehicle (152 fatalities). Incidents involving backing vehicles were prominent among the 154 worker-on-foot fatalities that occurred within the confines of the work zone (51%).

Executive Summary:

• Leading occupation: construction laborers 42%: Laborers should not be hired for construction tasks.
• Primary source of injury: trucks 45%: Ban trucks from construction areas.
• Employer: private employer 74%: All work should be done by state or local government workers.
• Worker on foot struck by a vehicle 68%: As these are vehicle-related, being on foot is more hazardous than being in a vehicle, thus workers should not be on foot.
  However, data is not given to distinguish between the possibilities:
  • Worker on foot struck by a vehicle, worker on foot dies.
  • Worker on foot struck by a vehicle, worker in vehicle dies.
  • Worker on foot struck by a vehicle, non-worker in vehicle dies.
• Workers as likely to be struck by construction vehicle as by a passing traffic vehicle: Either all vehicles should be banned or all vehicles should be construction or traffic vehicles.
• Backing vehicles 51%: A vehicle can go either forward or backward, so there is a 50% chance of either. The additional 1% is insignificant.
• Worker on foot struck by another worker on foot: No data.
• Worker on foot striking another worker on foot: No data.

Construction Zone Safety Solutions Are Obvious:

1. Do not hire laborers.
2. Prohibit trucks.
3. Require State or Local Government Workers.
   • The numerous supply of clerks and supervisors is the obvious labor pool.
4. Workers should be in vehicles.
5. All vehicles should be passing traffic vehicles.
   • Passing traffic vehicles are slightly less dangerous than construction vehicles.
   • Workers are more dangerous than non-workers.

Thus, government clerks and supervisors should do construction work in automobiles. Non-workers are less dangerous than workers, thus the automobiles should be those of passerby. Non-workers on foot are not a problem. As eliminating backing vehicles removes 51% of the problem, workers should get in to vehicles of passerby, drive those vehicles forward while completing tasks, then return the vehicle to the non-worker who has walked through construction zone.

Re:Solutions From Statistics

[danila]

Backing vehicles 51%: A vehicle can go either forward or backward, so there is a 50% chance of either. The additional 1% is insignificant.
Incorrect. From experience, most of the time (i.e. significantly more than 50% of the time) vehicles move forward. Thus the 51% figure indicates a disproportionate danger of backing vehicles. They should therefore be only allowed to move forward.

Re:Solutions From Statistics

[SEWilco]

From experience, most of the time (i.e. significantly more than 50% of the time) vehicles move forward. Thus the 51% figure indicates a disproportionate danger of backing vehicles. They should therefore be only allowed to move forward.

Experience? We're using scientific Statistics here! Don't make Dr. Science explain it to you!

traffic control...

[mmuskratt]

I was looking at the traffic on Highway 1 in the LA area during a break in the basketball game last night. All the traffic was heading in one direction, gridlocked, while the opposite direction was virtually empty. I thought, "Hey, what if they had some sort of automatic cone or barrier that could move over a few lanes, to accommodate the traffic moving one direction?" Maybe it isn't that far off...

Shew us the way, Mother England!

[Anonymous Coward]

Tif true! Spelling and gramatical ufage among ye colonial peoplef haf varyed hardly a whit cince ye Revolution. Thay have neither invented any new wordf nor varyed ye spelling nor meaning of ye wordf they already knew.

COOL!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I CAN get a job with the skills I learned playing STARCRAFT!!!!

Well, I for one...

[jacobhoupt]

welcome our new Robocone overlords.

So...

[leon.gandalf]

which one holds the clipboard?

... or trucks and chewing gum

[Flexagon]

Yes, just think of the accidents that could happen if they hire Buzz and Mr. Potatohead to manage the heavy lifting!

Translation?

[ResQuad]

This obviously wasnt a translation for the british readers, its to give the american readers the term they need, with out calling them stupid americans (me included).

Robot type

[CaseyB]

Are these benevolent pusher robots or tyrannical shover robots?

Dynamic courses

[Anonymous Coward]

Think about the fun you'd have at autocrosses.

Images of sales models

[torklugnutz]

Artist conception of next generation units here. Apparently, the shepherd unit is also multilingual.

I believe they are being built by Industrial Automaton

Seems Familiar...

[Thedalek]

Didn't I see these in an episode of Charlie's Angels?

in other news...

[t_allardyce]

30 people were killed today in a motorway pile-up caused by a software bug in a robotic bollard. Confused by a passing car playing gangsta-rap music the robot had begun dancing accross 3 lanes of traffic, ending up attached to the front of a mini-van.

re; sig

[Anonymous Coward]

the child would have SERIOUS dehydration problems.

Didn't you read the article?

[TubeSteak]

You've got it all wrong
In Soviet Russia, You move traffic cones
Soon, In the United States, traffic cones will move you!

Suprised No One Has Mentioned this Factor

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone find this troubling that anyone with the right access could shut down all of america's roadways in a couple minutes?

This means when the computers finally take over, they can herd us un-knowingly into easy to bomb spots, or shut down the evacuation with well placed road cones!!!!

One Word

[xaoslaad]

Daleks!!!

That's right I'm gonna get me some of these, paint em black, slap a plunger on each one, dress the 'shepherd' unit up as Davro's, get the mad crazy long scarf out, take a hit of acid, and I'm in my own personal Dr. Who episode baby!!!

Right! Stop that! It's SILLY. Very SILLY indeed!

[Attila]

Started off as a nice little idea about old ladies attacking young men, but now it's just got SILLY! His hair's too long for a vicar, too, and you can tell those are not proper traffic barrels! CLEAR OUT, THE LOT OF YOU!

Monty Python

[Phsyco]

This reminds me of that old python skit, with the rebel grannies and the vicious gangs of keep left signs.

In-Story Quote

[um3k]

We're designing the system in such a way that the barrels are very stupid - so that they are very reliable and inexpensive
Ass Prof Shane Farritor

Nice job....

Pricey

[KnarfO]

At $200 a pop (pun intended) these things seem a bit expensive for equipment that often ends up being squished...

Robocone

[Sneekyknees]

I always wanted to make a skin like this for Quake or some such game. That way when I duck, I'd look like an ordinary orange barrel or crate (the empty ones). Then blast people when they walk by, duck again to hide. :)

Doctor Who

[jratcliffe]

OK, am I the only one who thought "My God, they've built Daleks!"

In the game of Paranoia...

[AtariDatacenter]

We had intelligent land minds that could move and reorganize themselves. Of course, their most favorite activity was to find someone walking nearby and to move themselves under their foot. You really had to be careful with those things around!

Right!

[Max Threshold]

Anyone can see that's not a proper 'keep left' sign! Clear off, the lot of you.

The barrel's are too slow...

[Anonymous Coward]

...and not massive enough to kill someone by impact.

OTOH the barrel could pust someone into the path of a vehicle with a bit more KE.