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First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the number-johnny-five dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Robots have been roaming Iraq, since shortly after the war began. Now, for the first time — the first time in any war zone — the 'bots are carrying guns. The SWORDS robots, armed with M249 machine guns, "haven't fired their weapons yet," an Army official says. "But that'll be happening soon." The machines have actually been ready for a while, but safety concerns kept them off the battlefield. Now, the robots have kill switches, so "now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," according to the Army. I feel safer already."

16 of 661 comments (clear)

  1. The Mysterious Dr. Zecca by UncleWilly · · Score: 5, Funny

    The 'bots "haven't fired their weapons yet," Michael Zecca, the SWORDS program manager, tells DANGER ROOM. "But that'll be happening soon", he smiled evilly, petting his white cat.
  2. Kill switch? by qbwiz · · Score: 5, Funny

    In this case, it might be better to call it a "do not kill" switch.

    --
    Ewige Blumenkraft.
    1. Re:Kill switch? by yotto · · Score: 4, Funny

      In a tragic sort of way, that'd be really funny. The robot starts acting up, someone hits the kill switch, and the general yells "NO! THAT DOESN'T DO WHAT YOU THINK IT DOES!" and then bullets rip them apart.

      Okay, it's not that funny.

      --
      Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
    2. Re:Kill switch? by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Their ``kill switch remote'' is an M16. Simple point and click interface.

      --

      "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    3. Re:Kill switch? by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 4, Funny

      You see, Killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them, until they reached their limit and shut down. --Zapp Brannigan

      --
      500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
  3. An army of bots.. by superphreak · · Score: 5, Funny

    only three of the robots are currently in Iraq.

    Wow, that'll take care of business...

    --
    Evolution is a state-sponsored, state-protected religion.
    1. Re:An army of bots.. by sokoban · · Score: 5, Funny

      only three of the robots are currently in Iraq.

      Wow, that'll take care of business... You see all these advertisements on American TV about being "an Army of one." Well, this is three times better.

      And they're ROBOTS.
      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
    2. Re:An army of bots.. by Frumious+Wombat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wait until they release the robotic M1A1 Abrahms. Three ought to do it. It'll come with the Three Laws of Army Robotics.

      1. If it moves, shoot it.

      2. If it doesn't move, make it move.

      3. See Law 1.

      --
      the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
  4. Re:Asimov must be spinning in hgis grave... by Anonymous+Crowhead · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh, please. I, Robot was pretty much a treatise on how stupid those laws are.

  5. Robot to Iraqi: by markov_chain · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You have 20 seconds to drop your gun"

    Iraqi drops gun.

    "19... 18... 17..."

    Sorry :)

    --
    Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
    1. Re:Robot to Iraqi: by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

      "If the robot doesn't stop counting, just reach behind you and throw the pile of shit at it."

      "How do you know the shit will be there?"

      "It will be, trust me."

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  6. obligatory by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    More importantly, where can i get one?

    No-- more importantly, can it find Sarah Connor?

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  7. "Sarah Connorz" by syousef · · Score: 4, Funny

    The robots also have a bad habit of killing anyone that answers the door in the affirmative to the name "Sarah Connor"

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  8. Re:but? by faloi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Depending on how much paperwork you're willing to sign, I know some people that would be happy to give you an opportunity to use a M249. There's a time commitment involved, though...

    --
    "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
  9. Re:Robot? That Ain't a Robot- THIS is a Robot. by king-manic · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't think it's the army itself that defective I think it's the brass, politicians and the American people. America has become extremely risk averse in regards to American lives. The politicians thus won't touch anything that endangers people and the brass relay these sentiments. It might be because of better communication and media which makes casualties more then numbers, it might be a very big shift in the idea of duty vs cost of duty. It might be the frivolous nature of the wars America has gotten itself into lately. Vietnam was about ideology, Iraq is about economics and influence while the major wars previous WWI and WWII was about duty to your allies and stopping actual threats to your security and economy. Korea was about ideology as well so perhaps it is a shift of the people.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  10. Re:what about the insurgent robots by acvh · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The real question, in my mind, is this: what would a robot do with all those virgins?"

    I believe Japanese animators have already answered that question.