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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/
...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
Why does it takes so much money to make a remote control car? Don't we have those for kids like ages ago for less then $100? Scales it up, still doesn't justify the high price.
it would transform too! Room-bots, roll out!
Does the idea of putting artifical intelligence into a killing machine make anyone else a little nervous?
There is a drivers seat because one of the three modes of operation is "manual," with the other two being remote control and autonomous.
http://www.busyweather.com/
"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"
That's the obligatory response to any robot battles in the Pentagon.
RC would be more fitting than robot status. This one will be controlled via human interface remotely whereas a robot having AI enough to maneuver on its own making decisions doesnt need a human at least for periods of time.
Welcome back to 82'!
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.
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
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
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?
/me decides to wait for robotic appliances not produced by a company making military gear.
Great idea.
Don't forget to not use GPS.
Oh, and don't forget that you can't get on a plane manufactured by Boeing. Or any airplane manufacturer...
Or buy a Jeep (or any car, for that matter)...
Or buy office furniture of any type (or even shop at Staples, Office Depot, etc.)...
Or buy a computer from Dell, IBM, HP...
Because Lord knows we can't support the evil corporations who sell things to willing customers with lots of money. How dare they!
BattleBot and Robot.. they don't mix!
What the hell are you talking about? If you'd actually read the book "I, Robot" you'd understand Asimov's point with the so-called "laws of robotics". They were a not meant to be taken seriously. Nearly every chapter in the book was its own little story about how yet another robot goes haywire because of its slavish adherence to the three laws. He wasn't trying to present his laws as the end-all be-all of robotic ethics. On the contrary, he was showing the folly of depending on something as simplistic as the three laws. People need to quit parroting something they heard third hand and actually read from the source.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Just so you know, iRobot was making robots for the military long before it came up with the Roomba. URBIE, the testbed that eventually led to the PackBot, was built under a DARPA grant in '97, fivr years before Roomba. If you're going to avoid a company for doing business with the military, you need to research more thoroughly. Otherwise, it's just posturing.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.