Slashdot Mirror
S. Korea Considers Using Armed Robots Along DMZ
Slicker writes "S. Korea and N. Korea (aka the ROK and DPRK, respectively) share the most heavily fortified border that has ever existed. Now the ROK is considering deployment of armed robots." Not expected until sometime in the 2010s. From the article: "Robots with weapons mounted on their frames are each expected to be able to observe from 2 and 1 kilometers during the day and night, respectively, and will have the capability to record voices and take pictures in a 180-degree circle."
From the article:
Remote-control sounds fine, but automatically? Do we have software capable of reliably distingushing between a civilian and an enemy combatant (at least as well as a human soldier can, anyway...)?
Doesn't sound like the best of ideas. Also from the article:
Seems to me that the South Koreans might be better off upgrading their fences and perimeters (proven technology) than putting their faith in autonomous killer robots (unproven, scary, incredibly risky sci-fi technology).
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
"will have the capability to record voices and take pictures in a 180-degree circle."
Screw the armed robots, I just wanna see how they pulled this off!
The DMZ is a wildlife paradise --- hopefully the wildlife is not extinguished by armedbots because the wildlife merely moves throughout the DMZ. I would like to see the armedbots recognize the difference between human and animal before going robocop.
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
A better bet is that by 2010, the principal problem on the Korean peninsula will not be the brittle truce between the two regimes, but the economic crisis caused by South Korea inheriting the crumbling husk to their north. That's a lot of mouths to feed.
Those robots, assuming the project isn't abandoned, will more likely be guarding the border with China instead.
"OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
You might be joking, or you might be serious, but let me take a stand for a minute and ask a serious question: Why is that the only thing that matters to you? And, please, if you're going to reply with "LOL OMG BSOD WILL KILL SOMEONE ROFL," save yourself the trouble and refrain from doing so. I'm very curious why you, and a number of other people, think that the only thing important is if a piece of technology runs Linux or not.
Remote-control sounds fine, but automatically? Do we have software capable of reliably distingushing between a civilian and an enemy combatant (at least as well as a human soldier can, anyway...)?
Well, no, but that wouldn't be necessary. I'm sure the robots would use some form of Identification Friend or Foe [IFF] method. I'm not saying those arne't foolproof but that doesn't really require any type of automatic target recognition (ATR) or image recognition software.
Note, I'm not saying that IFF makes these robots a great idea. I'm just pointing out that the idea isn't completely idiotic.
GMD
watch this
So basically the options are:
a surpise all or nothing submarine launched premtive all out nuclear strike on all North Korean assets. The fallout from which will kill at least tens of thousands koreans, and chinese.
wait for north korea to start a war out of desperation
Peace, the price of which is essentially writing off the more or less innocent but indoctrinated North Korean populace.
You can't build a robot out of prayers for dear leader. It takes industry. South Korea has a monopoly on that.
Do you really think China would continue to prop up the US dollar and fund America's war machine if we pissed them off? China would kick our American asses back into the great depression for thinking about it. Considering America is:
- $8 Trillion dollars in debt
- Dependent on foreign loans, primarily from China and Japan because our leadership can't balance a f'ing checkbook
- Dependent on China/Korea/Tiawan to manufacture all our fancy electronics, cloths, consumer goods, and well... everything else
Then yes, I do think N. Korea will continue unhindered by American interference.I know this is a technology centric website but let me say, as someone who has worked in the military with pretty high-tech gear, you guys are overestimating military technology. Some of you out there might say "But I seen military technology work all the time." Well that's nice, but I've seen how the triumvirate of scientist/engineer contractors, military officers and shitty technology can come together to make a terrible economic and time wasting mess.
I state the overestimation for a number of cynical reasons:
1. A lot of military technology doesn't get tested in warlike situations or complex terrain and when the technology is put into 'war-like' operations or complex terrain it doesn't live up to its hype. Bureaucracy also plays a part in slowing down projects and making them unrealistic.
2. Hyping the machine. This is what military officers and the contractors do. They hype up the technology to whole new bullshitting levels. The officers do it for their promotions and careers and the contractors do it for the money.
The terminator scenario won't happen for a very very long time.
One problem though. N. Korea is not democratic. So the power of the entire country and it's militery might is in the hands of a few people.
/British/Italian/etc. people not wanting military used against Iraq (for example)? Get real, in democracy is military also in control of few people. You don't put top generals in place if they're not "your men". Anywhere.
I always wanted to understand something.
What is the difference of N. Korean people not wanting military to be used against S. Korea (for example), and Spanish
What does democracy have to do with it, when in democracy it all takes one prime minister to decide military goes to Iraq - and thing is done.
The Japanese failed to surrender after the dropping of the first bomb--it took two bombs to bring them to the table on our terms.
The fact that we were temporarily able to intimidate the Russians surely was also a factor, but I don't believe that it was the over-riding rationale.
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$tar -xvf
Agreed. Perhaps many Slashdot readers don't really understand what the DMZ is like. In the 1980s and 90s, live ambushes were a fact of life along the DMZ (they may still be, but I'm no longer in the Army so I don't have inside info about it). The North Koreans for decades have poked and prodded the border: They've sent infiltrators into South Korea, have created elaborate tunnel systems below the DMZ, and attempted to assassinate the South Korean president, among other provocations. Troops stationed along the DMZ for good reason keep an extraordinarily high state of readiness. Over 100 Americans have died along the DMZ since the armstice (I don't have figures for South Korean soldiers).
So while from the comfort of Ft. Livingroom, it's easy to say that using armed robots to patrol the DMZ is a bad idea, the soldiers on the ground are probably pretty happy about the notion. That's not to say that the robots will work as advertised, or that they should replace existing defenses. The South Korean government may be motivated by cost considerations, but if the end result is that fewer South Korean soldiers are likely to die in the line of duty, it seems worth trying out some form of automated defense.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
scary to say, but we need to keep americans at home more... It's the only card we have against the multi-nationals. We value "corperate" rights over the individual rights of people all over the world. Why do thing Iraq is getting "freedom" but the very basics of OUR freedoms they don't get..unions, free trade, etc.. they're being farmed as "serfs" We've conveniently not overturned some of Saddam's more "dictatorlike" laws because the military thinks their convenient. ..soon we'll be in another bad situation again. the world has things to sort out...and we need our noze out of it. Otherwise we become everybody's target. Unless we seriously change our ways we will be the bad guys of the next war!!!
The new generation of South Koreans are f---ing whiny ingrates. The US should be completely off the Korean peninsula, with a nuclear umbrella treaty. The US presence is only a small percentage of the force anyway, and all I ever hear is the Euro-style whining about it. Pull back and redeploy.
Same goes for Germany and Okinawa too.