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Battle Roomba Tractor
jazzstep writes "This article on MSNBC introduces an interesting new duo on the robotics front. iRobot and John Deere have teamed up to create a new battle-ready robot for the Pentagon."
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They better hope that the battlefield doesn't have any corners for the "battle roomba" to get stuck in...
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
"All your dust bunnies are belong to us."
Okay, works for me.
http://www.busyweather.com/
So,
1) why the driver's seat then?
2) will it show a preference for attacking house cats?
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
...They definitely need a strobing set of red lights that goes from side to side at the front of the car.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
it would transform too! Room-bots, roll out!
"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"
That's the obligatory response to any robot battles in the Pentagon.
So the John Deere part chops the enemies up into little pieces, and the roomba part vacuums them up?
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Two old farmers, one chewing a stalk of wheat.
"Abe, you gettin some new equipment for the next harvest?"
"Yep, I was gonna get me one of them Aytonomous Assault Vehicles to help in the south field."
"the 312?"
"nah, the 412, it's got the bailer attachment on the rear gun deck."
"John Deer always did make good AAV's"
"hell it'll get rid of the varmints too"
Think of all the time it will waste killing people over and over again.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
Features
And in other news, North Korea has just started work on its new defense -- fringed rugs!
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
"My killbot has lotus notes and a machine gun."
Will it be in Miltary green, or John Deere green?
I wonder what OS that thing runs on and if it has wireless networking.
You dont want the "enemy" to hack into the robots and send them back to attack the creators ?
...mow down the enemy...
Yes.
The ED209 was a bouncer at one of our shows last year.
Man, no one would piss with that dude!
Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
Kull: She told me she was 19!
The drone planes can also attack remotely now (hellfire missiles).
Flying is actually easier than driving because you don't have to worry about terrain and collisions as much. Take something as simple as a hill. The calculations and sensors to figure out that it's a hill, not a curb or other blockage, then figure out whether the slope is within climbing margins, etc, is actualy quite difficult. We're getting there, but people and animals have the equivalent of a supercomputer neural net trained for years just for processing visual information for this.
I don't read AC A human right
As long as it runs Windows XP with SP2, I'll feel safe.
welcome our autonomous dust-sucking made-in-the-USA robot tractor overlords.
Tragedy strikes as the military's "seek, locate, EXTERMINATE!" commands are accidently downloaded into every combine and tractor in North America.
Maximum Overdrive, indeed.
"Nothing kills like a Deere"
Windows XP SP2 told me to install third-party software that prevents viruses and protects stability... I chose Ubuntu
Yes this is a huge "wheel" forward for the military. But I understand that for safety reasons (running over of friendly troops) the spec still calls for a soldier to walk in front of the machine waving a red Flag to warn our troops. If, however, he sees the enemy he switches immediately to waving a Green Flag to crush our enemies.
Apparently the DOD has put a high priority on frightening the enemy's pets.
-B
There's only one law of robotics...
Kill John Conner.
ok, and maybe afterwards do some vacuuming and make some chai green tea.
"Depending on battlefield circumstances, the vehicle could be controlled remotely, freeing up the soldiers inside it for other tasks, Greiner said." ;)
So you're putting your driver in a box somewhere behind the frontlines and letting him drive a vehicle full of people into what may be a dangerous battlezone, and without the full feedback of actually being there. Sounds like a bad idea to me, but if I get drafted I want that job.
Does the idea of putting artifical intelligence into a killing machine make anyone else a little nervous?
Any kind of intelligence added to the military would be an improvement.
Of course it will be small - don't you remember?
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. Thank you. -- Military school Commandant's graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
In response to this recent product announcement several middle eastern countries have purchased large quantities of the Roomba Virtual Wall accessories and it is rumored that these are being installed along territory borders.
Magic Eight Ball: Outlook not so good., Hmmm, how about Excel and Word?