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Army Eyes Anti-Sniper Robot
Hiawatha writes "iRobot has teamed up with Boston University to create a robot that can spot enemy snipers on a battlefield. Before the smoke of the shot clears away, the REDOWL robot should have the shooter in its sights." iRobot is the same company that brought you the popular Roomba robotic vacuum.
After shooting the sniper, the robot proceeds to vacuum the battlefield.
I work for a company called Trex Enterprises, and we built one of these a long time ago. Go check it out on our website... http://www.trexenterprises.com/laserrad.html
Getting pwn3d by a .50cal through a wall may not qualify as wallhacking, but still... aimbots vs. campers.
War may never have been fun, but remember the good old days, when it was supposed to be? :)
"I think I saw that movie, the Robots won".
**insert favorite profound quotation here**
Back in the old days, before Rod Brooks started iRobot, I worked part-time at a small MIT AI Lab spinoff making robots for kids called Turtles. The Turtle was an outcome of Logo, and, which itself was an outgrowth of Lisp, and so somehow the company's name got on a list of AI and Robotics vendors. (Sidenote: Lego Mindstorms also came from this same group of people at MIT and industry, though not this particular startup.)
Anyway, we got a letter from a defense contractor asking for "applications of our AI and robotics products to battlefield logistics" and gave a half-dozen or so areas for us to evaluate our products.
As you can imagine, puzzlement gave way to amusement, which quickly gave way to mayhem and by 3:05AM we had started writing our response, starting off with "The Turtle enjoys very low observability, due to a minimal radar cross-section and an almost non-existent infra-red signature."
The letter made the rounds on the photocopy/bulletin-board circuit (there was no electronic copy available outside), and somehow the response got published in an ACM journal. Through the magic of modern imaging, it is available for you to read today in PDF.
I read that too and thought it was odd that none of the weapons mentioned, ak-47, m-16, pistols, are weapons that snipers use. An M-16 has an effective range of 300-400 meters or so. Snipers are capable of sitting 1000 meters out and hitting their target. The sound of a weapon discharge at that distance is very faint.
Also, this is picking nits... but... Snipers use smokeless powder. They work very hard at not being seen.
If it's from the makers of roomba, all the sniper has to do is stand in a corner and that bot will never be able to get him.
I can just imagine the way that the robot alerts the soldiers with it:
We Are The Targeting Robots
We Are Here To Protect You
The Sniper Is Detected
The Sniper Has Gone Down The Stairs
***
We Are The Targeting Robots
Grandpa Is Detected
Grandpa Is Detected At The Bottom Of The Stairs
I Am Here To Protect You
I Will Direct Fire On Top Of Grandpa
"'If one must live then one must die.' - oh, the truth must be funnier than this..." -- MammÃt
I hate it when people point out the blindingly obvious limitations of something as if they are some devastating flaws that render it useless.
The sniper might run away? Wow such insight!
In reality encouraging snipers to run away is still going to be a win on the battlefield. Presumably most snipers hole up in a reasonably secure, hidden vantage point and remain there. If a technology makes that unfeasible then you've gone a long way to decreasing their effectiveness as their initial tactical advantage is neutralised on their first shot. A sniper who's legging it isn't shooting at you and if you have a camera automatically pointing in his direction then tracking him is a possibility.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I read that too and thought it was odd that none of the weapons mentioned, ak-47, m-16, pistols, are weapons that snipers use. An M-16 has an effective range of 300-400 meters or so. Snipers are capable of sitting 1000 meters out and hitting their target. The sound of a weapon discharge at that distance is very faint. Also, this is picking nits... but... Snipers use smokeless powder. They work very hard at not being seen.
Your post has some incorrect facts
1) An M-16 has an effective range of 550 meters, and its not hard, every year I have to qualify with my rifle and we fire at the 500 yard range in the prone, at a normal human target I hit 7 out of 10 shots with ease, and I'm far from being a skilled shooter.
2) Most snipers in the Middle East use an ak-47s with a scope
3) Snipers are capable of shooting up to 1500 meters away; the record for the longest kill is held by Carlos Hathcock from 2250 meters away (granted he was one of the best snipers around)
Both of you are missing something: