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New Robots Hunt Pirates by Sea
mattnyc99 writes "PopularMechanics.com takes a peek into the growing world of high-tech piracy on the open seas, which the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard are looking to cut off by investing in a new fleet of superfast, gun-mounted unmanned surface vessels (USVs). From the article: "The Interceptor is available now. But the USV market is just getting started: Two months ago, British defense firm Qinetiq debuted its own robotic vessel, the jetski-size Sentry. Among its potential duties is intruder investigation, which could include scouting out unidentified boats, along the lines of the raft that detonated alongside the USS Cole in Yemen, as well as offering a first look at a possible pirate-controlled vessel.""
Remember, it's not piracy, it's "unauthorized copying". Oh, wait...
All hail our robotic sea ninja overlords!
Ooh arrr, what be a Jetski anyway? Russian Hanna-Barbera futurist?
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
"We are the Dread Pirate Robots. There will be no survivors."
If only we had a remotely-operated wheelbarrow... That would be something!
Who hunts down pirates on the high seas?
ROBOT GUNBOATS!
Dangerous and deadly and fatal they be!
ROBOT GUNBOATS!
If nautical mercy is something you wish,
ROBOT GUNBOATS!
Then put up your hands or sleep with the fish!
ROBOT GUNBOATS!
The Schwartz space ain't from Spaceballs.
I noticed they were talking some about possibly making them autonomous. That just seems like a really bad idea. What you would have is a weapon system disconnected from command. The enemy could set up a trap for these machines, capture them and then have some high-tech stuff at their disposal. Unlike a UAV, it seems like it would be pretty easy to catch one of these surface machines using any number of methods even if they normally can protect themselves with weapon systems. If they can't protect themselves then it would be even easier to capture them.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
because the main point of a deterrent is to be a deterrent. For example, while cops do have unmarked cars the vast majority are pretty gaudily painted. Police uniforms are designed to make them look larger and more imposing. The idea, at least in most cases, is not to get someone to commit the crime so you can catch him, but to deter them from attempting it in the first place.
It's only a matter of time. They crank 1000 of these onto the ocean, the hackers go "oh, hey, wait a minute!" and bam, they've got 1000 gun mounted boats at their disposal, patched of course, so the same trick can't work twice.
This shit is getting fucking unreal.
... my first thought is, "The RIAA is going too far this time."
...it's fundamentally unethical, illegal and immoral (depending on your particular morality, I suppose) to allow an autonomous machine to roam free with the capability (and intent) to kill human beings.
For one thing, we read here every day about the endless ways in which software farks up.
Furthermore, I find the whole notion of armed robots cruising around freely in any kind of environment - war zone or not - extremely disturbing. How do we ensure they only kill what we want them to kill? Who is accountable when they do kill things? Does the extra layer of separation between commanding officer and 'target' make it more likely that decision makers will authorise killing?
These toys are very neat from a tech perspective, but they create a perception that killing human beings is like a video game of some description.
Read Pynchon.
Hmm... a jet ski sized robot attempting to observe and engage in the open ocean.. I wonder if any of these guys have actually been in the open ocean?
The sea is big people. The waves are big, the wind is big and the ships are big. A really small boat just barely big enough to manage to stay afloat semi-reliably in open ocean is generally 30 feet long or more. They do make them shorter, but generally only as a stunt. What is a four foot tall vehicle going to do against a vessel with steel and concrete sides that reach probably at least 10-15 feet up? These things are going to present about as much threat to the average ocean going vessel as a chihuahua attempting to pee on one's foot.
We also mentioned the sea is big. Average swell depending on area can be 8 feet on a calm day. this means a jet ski about 4 feet high is going to either spend 75% of its time inside the trough of a swell unable to see squat, or skipping along the swell tops in a way that is going to strongly resemble video froma a surfboard cam. Very splashy but not too useful.
As a harbor or shore defense weapon I can see these being possibly quite useful against similarly sized vessels like dinghies and maybe cigarette boats, but anything offshore is unrealistic.
Ironically yes.
They have done tests using examples of police uniforms and asking citizens what type of uniform made them feel most secure. They ranged from the wildly florid with knee high leather boots and helmets and epaulets and whatnot, to guys in blue blazers with all their gear hidden under the coats.
The overwhelming winner were the uniforms with as much testosterone laced leather froo-froo as could be sewn to them.
It's time. The days of zombie PCs are numbered. The future is...
Zombie robot pirates!
Do you realise just how much more awesome the world is about to become?
OMG! Oh My God! Oh my god, Oh my god, OH MY GOD!!!!!
If this stuff is not what dreams are made of, then I'll eat my eye patch.
.
Excellent, my stocks in testosterone laced leather froo-froos are going to go thru the roof!
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
Oh, sorry. That was me buying my annual supply causing artificial inflation for the current quarter. Sorry.
How long until these things ARE THE PIRATES!
"THIS VESSEL IS A SATELITE CONTROLLED DRONE... PROVIDE 64 bank account access codes or it will OPEN FIRE! Your airwaves are being monitored!"
If this tech spreads into the world of piracy an isolated problem for the super rich may start striking all boaters... My sailing dingy is NOT bulletproof.
Typically it will be at night, in the straights south of Singapore. 4-5 guys suddenly appear with big machetes, and they know where to be because the inside guy told them when and where. Oh, yeah, the traitors are on watch at the time...
Cell phones and text messages work for good and ill.
I am an gung-ho as the next guy, but If I am one seaman in a crew of 12 on a small freighter and I don't know which of my mates are "in on it", shooting it out with the pirates in front and the traitors at my back is not worth it. Take the stuff, it is not mine anyhow.
Seriously, if you want to stop piracy, shipping companies need to do better background checks on their employees.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Hate to break it to you, dude, but like any other nation, we have citizens who proofread their work, and citizens who don't. Where do you get off criticizing "American" grammar like it's all one unit?
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Well, for engagement, I'd certainly agree with your point, but for surveillance, I'd think the platform would have a number of advantages.
The first one is stealth, if it's capable of hiding in between the seas, then you'll have a heck of a time picking it up on ship radar. Even if it is seen, it'll blend in fairly well with the sea clutter on the display. Helicopters and airplanes stick out like a sore thumb, both visually and on radar.
The second is speed. Although they'd take a significant hit in higher seas, they can potentially put up with more banging and bouncing around than a human crew could ever take. And, with the unit being virtually encapsulated, seaworthiness is no longer an issue (the water it would take would be minimal).
And as far as surveillance goes, couldn't a simple telescoping arm with a camera equipped with gyro-stabilized optics be employed? You couldn't use it effectively underway, but a slow/stop speed it would give you a decent vantage. I regularly use a 14x power set of gyro-stabilized binoculars and I can read boat registration numbers (3" high block letters) fairly easily from over a half-mile away in 5 foot sea conditions.
Let's face it, Popular Mechanics likes to write fluff, and whatever they can do to make something sound more cool, sexy and manly is their primary M.O. Step back, look at the actual facts (in which there are few in this case) and not the claims of the marketing group, nor the speculation and opinions of the writers and the real potential uses start to become visible.
Its allright. I'm sure they'll listen to Reason.
Because you can - or because you should?