Linux Powers Military UGV

An anonymous reader writes "Linux powers a new autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that learns routes by following along behind foot-soldiers, after which it can retrace the route solo, avoiding obstacles. iRobot's "R-Gator" UGV is based on John Deere's 658cc, diesel-powered M-Gator military utility vehicle platform, with control, navigation, and object-avoidance systems based on BlueCat Linux from LynuxWorks. I wonder how Linux idealists feel about their cute little OS being deployed in machinery of war?"

Comments

First Weapons ports

[Anonymous Coward]

I am certain that there are many Linux idealists that will have no problem with their cute little OS being depoloyed in the machinery of war. Many of them will be more than happy to port new weapons to this platform. I suspect that some of the first batch of weapons will include the rocket launcher, the plasma rifle and the BFG2000.

How do they feel?

[dcapel]

I'd rather have linux do something like that, even if I don't agree with the 'that'. I'd rather have tax money saved on something like that, and also it furthers the robotics field from the open source point of view.

And best yet, no blue screen of open fire ;)

Re:How do they feel?

[Wyatt Earp]

As a military historian, I don't think the arguement can be made that "at we are spending absolutely humongous gobs of money on something that, in my view, has zero benefit to the American people" either from a political, military or technology point of view.

I will focus on the technological point of view here because the political and military sides...hell we all know that'll jsut cause yelling :)

Military spending, in the West since 1900 has had positive outcomes technologically in the long run. Yea, poison gas, nuclear bombs, machine guns all killed people. But GPS, centimeter to millimeter wave radar, Doppler radar, composite aircraft materials, advanced avionics, LORAN, battlefield medicine, advanced metalurgy, the Internet, distributed communication networks, accelerated 3D graphics, nuclear power, light weight jet and gas turbines are just some of the technologies either spawned from defense spending or directly from war.

We use this every day, in the early 80s, what spawned the increase in computing power and graphics? It wasn't the hobby PC market and it wasn't the business world, the technologies to ramp up computing power were directly funded by DoD and Intelligence budgets, the KGB Archives talks about this as an example of when the West started to outstrip the USSR/Comintern.

And spending right now for the Global War on Terror is pushing the development of new technologies and more advanced systems. For example, gun shot wounds and injuries in combat. Vietnam pushed the development of the last generation of artificial limbs and this war is pushing the adaptation of new technologies as the standard. There are many more soldiers surviving wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan than in combat in Vietnam or the Second World War, new treatments and techniques are being developed and proven which will also work thier way into civilian medicine just as civilian gunshot treatments worked thier way into military treatments.

It is sad that things like artificial limbs, blood extenders, advanced sensors require military funding to move into a generation, but that is the reality of life. If the Feds say, "we need new artifical limbs for the public", there will be 15 years of talking about before anything moves, like when we started talking about HDTV, but if the DoD needs something, they will throw the money out and something will get done.

As for taking money away from military contractors, it's just another form of State support for engineering and practical sciences, why not spend the money? Without military contractors we'd not have turbofan powered 777s, we'd not have the Interstate Highway System, we'd not have CT scanners.

Re:How do they feel?

[Plunky]

My #1 objection to the current US foreign policy is that we are spending absolutely humongous gobs of money on something that, in my view, has zero benefit to the American people.

Eh?

Just try googling for 'Record Oil Profits' one of these days.. you think that maybe those American People didnt get any benefits?

What about 'Iraq Contracts', hm.. plenty of American People got rich there too..

my guess would be ....

[ltwally]

"I wonder how Linux idealists feel about their cute little OS being deployed in machinery of war?"

My guess would be: pride. That, and curiousity over anything GPL'd that the military had to give back.

Linux is a Kernel

[Anti-Trend]

...not a religion. I am one of the those GNU/Linux advocates, and yet I don't see the big deal about Linux powering military equipment. Something's gonna power it, so in my mind it may as well be Linux. It's just an OS, a tool. And I'd trust Linux with a job of that nature, having been involved with Linux-powered ROVs first-hand.

How does Einstein feel about the bomb?

[Britz]

Well, inventions get used in different ways. Scientists easily dismiss such notions. As would software developers, I suppose. But since the poster touched upon this topic I would really like to know how the Slashdot crowd feels about this issue. Should scientists be more sensetive about possible missuse of their findings?

One argument would be: If I don't figure it out, someone else will come along later on. So by not discovering dangerous stuff it merely prolongs the danger.

A good example would be genetic research, which bears huge potential as well as risks.

IMHO researchers should not stop researching altogether, but be more sensitive and think about possible missuse beforehand. Also they should be much more vocal about the possible dangers that come with using the knowledge they helped to gain.

The military uses Linux!?! OMG!

[OmegaBlac]

I wonder how Linux idealists feel about their cute little OS being deployed in machinery of war?

Wow talk about a flamebait comment (but this is slashdot though). FOSS entitles everyone to be able to use the software regardless if they are the military, a terrorist group, a hacker, whoever. Linux would not be a truly Free (as in speech) OS if the GPL restricted or forbid its use by the military. For something to be truly free, it must be accessible to everyone. IMO, I think slashdot could do without the lil trollish comments at the end of the summaries--its tiring and childish.

Feel?

[Tom]

"I wonder how Linux idealists feel about their cute little OS being deployed in machinery of war?"

The same I feel about Linux servers being used for spam: I'd like to slowly disembowl the spammers, but what does the OS (by definition a general-purpose tool) have to do with that?

Idealist aren't necessarily pacifists

[jamej]

Maybe some of our Linux idealist understand some things are worse than war. Just ask some of the poor folks in N. Korea, or some of the folks that survived and are witnesses of the holocost. Linux in defense of human dignity and fredom is beautiful thing.