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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."

9 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.
  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. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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.