Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Pentagon To Send Robot Soldiers to Iraq

Posted by timothy on from the take-the-meat-popsicle-out-of-the-loop dept.

conJunk points out this AP story carried by Salon (also covered by various sources linked from Google News) "about the Pentagon's plan to send robot soldiers to Iraq in March or April. The program, Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, uses Foster-Miller TALON robots, and is said to be "years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp." If it's successful, maybe our men and women in uniform will have to team up with the United Auto Workers to fight the robo-threat to their jobs." Note that (whatever other considerations you might have about such deployment), the Rules of Robotics that some readers have linked to don't really apply to remote-controlled drones, which is what these are.

16 of 765 comments (clear)

  1. obligatory. by dop9388 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new...oh never mind... I'll never trust a robot with a gun. It's like trusting a redneck buffoon with the presidency of the United States...oh wait...

    1. Re:obligatory. by jsebrech · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, lets see... Who is it that actually LIVES in nature, grows the food you eat and mines the resources for your daily living. Who breathes fresh air and toils to make an honest living?

      You do know that food production and mining in the US are inherently and inescapably unprofitable when in direct competition with other regions in the world and survive only by the subsidies given to you by those "city slickers", don't you? A little gratitude to them for preserving your way of life would be in order I think.

  2. Re:AOL Robots? by Rob+Carr · · Score: 5, Funny
    Have the JW robots met at the front door by your electric monk. You have an answering machine to talk on the phone for you, a vcr/tivo/recorder to watch TV for you...why not an electric monk to believe things for you?

    I miss Douglas Adams.

    --
    This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
  3. Ummmm.... by Jesus+2.0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Note that (whatever other considerations you might have about such deployment), the Rules of Robotics that some readers have linked to don't really apply to remote-controlled drones, which is what these are.

    Uh, more like note that the "Rules of Robotics" don't apply in real life.

  4. Automation by PixelScuba · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somehow I don't think the men and women of the armed services would really put up that much protest if their jobs in Iraq were outsourced by robots.

  5. I can see it now by miyako · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just wait, they'll control these using a 1337 brigade of FPS players, then some asshat will TK our entire military presence. Shortly thereafter whatever enemy we happen to be fighting at the time will send us the gift of nukes with "pwned" spray painted on the side.

    --
    Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
  6. The Iraqis, for one.... by iamatlas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I do not think that the Iraqis will welcome their new robotic overlords. Or their guns. Probably not the bullets either. In fact, I think they may get kind of pissed...

    1. Re:The Iraqis, for one.... by Fjandr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Striking military targets is not terrorist action.

      Halle-fucking-lujah!!

      Someone who finally understands the definition of terrorism!

      Terrorism is not bombing convoys or suicide bombs against mess halls. These are military targets. Even the crashing of a plane into the Pentagon was not a terrorist act, since the point was to attack a military target. The victims families might not like it applied to their family members, but those civilians killed on the plane were what is termed "collateral damage" in what was a military attack by definition.

      Taking civilian hostages and killing them if your demands aren't met is terrorism, but much(or most, hard to tell from the watered-down news in the USA) of what the insurgents in Iraq do is not terrorism.

  7. TALON online store? by InterStellaArtois · · Score: 5, Funny
    I have to admit, when I looked at the site detailing these robots, I did look for a 'Order', or 'View your Shopping Cart' link ...

    Equipped with breaching tool, light anti-tank weapon launcher, 12-gauge shotgun and 40mm grenade launcher I must admit - for a moment I reflexively considered my available credit.

  8. Are they controlled by SkyNet by mslinux · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good thing old Arnold is still around ;)

  9. These are not robot soldiers by karmaflux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They are robots. They'll require soldiers to operate them. In fact, I hesitate to call them robots. They're more like glorified waldoes. I suppose if the mass of hydraulics that assembles cars can be called a robot, so can these.

    But they are not soldiers. There's a lot more to being a soldier than combat.

    --

    REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.

  10. Re:Definitely not a good thing by xtermin8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If only one side has drones, it sanitizes slaughter entirely too much. It would actually distort the meaning of democracy altogether. I would like to think a "democracy" is a nation where its people would be willing to place their lives in danger to protect their freedoms. Robot armys would seem to me to be a tool for empire building, and of tyranny.

  11. Bush is no redneck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bush is not a hick, he's from Connecticut. He's a prep school boy, went to Yale, Skull & Bones... make no mistake, this guy is part of the ruling class.

    1. Re:Bush is no redneck. by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Bush is not a hick, he's from Connecticut. He's a prep school boy, went to Yale, Skull & Bones... make no mistake, this guy is part of the ruling class.

      Earlier in his career, a native Texan opponent defeated him by emphasing W's outsider status and Yale connections. After that W remade himself into cowboy.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  12. Re:Definitely not a good thing by PopCulture · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree, but I think the side that has the drones will not...

    certainly, they will only be used to secure democracy, free enslaved peoples around the world, and protect against WMD's.

    Really, I live in the US, I was out at happy hour at Mackies in DC when Bush made the announcement that we were going to invade Iraq.... everyone cheered. They bought rounds of shots for eachother. It was disgusting- you don't celebrate the start of a war, you celebrate it's end. We are already as sanitized to the violence, pain, and suffering of others. Just so long as it doesn't happin "on our soil".

    --

    Here's to finally giving Bush his exit strategy in November
  13. Re:Democracy. by nwbvt · · Score: 5, Insightful
    So you are thinking maybe its not a good thing to create technologies that lessen the horrors of war because that makes it easier to engage in war?

    So by that logic we should throw out all the body armor, armored vehicles, medics, and anything else that makes our troops safer.

    Hell lets throw out all that modern technology and go back to the "good old days" like during the Civil War, where over 50,000 died in one three day battle (thats around twice the total number of deaths in the entire Iraq war). I mean because of the horrors of war back then, people were so peaceful and never engaged in violence to settle a dispute.

    Hey, while we are at it, lets stop all those researchers making drugs to help AIDs patients. The more horrible the disease is, the fewer people will engage in reckless sex and drugs.

    --
    Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.