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Robot Rebellion Quelled in Iraq

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the get-to-tha-choppa dept.

opencity writes "The Register reports that the (perhaps inevitable) robot rebellion has been avoided ... for now. 'Ground-crawling US war robots armed with machine guns, deployed to fight in Iraq last year, reportedly turned on their fleshy masters almost at once. The rebellious machine warriors have been retired from combat pending upgrades.' Gizmodo also has a good photo."

8 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Somehow reminds me of Asimov... by mikkl666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they don't get robots this far, please don't give them guns, ever. EVER.

    1. Re:Somehow reminds me of Asimov... by HuguesT · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually lots of Asimov stories revolve around robots weaseling out of one of the three laws.

    2. Re:Somehow reminds me of Asimov... by harry666t · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > but a robot running the first law of
      > robotics would be incapable of firing
      > the weapon ever.

      And that's how it should be!

  2. One of the problems. by haeger · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What happened here from what I understand from the article (yes, I did read it) was that the machine started moving when it wasn't supposed to.
    That's not so bad when we are talking about automated warehouse trucks and similar robots, but when they are armed and constructed to kill it becomes something very serious indeed.

    So you'll need a kill-switch, but not one that the enemy can use, so it needs to be complicated, but not too complicated because then it won't work when needed. Not an easy thing to do.

    Oh, and there will be bugs in the machine. I have yet to write a single script or program that didn't have a bug in it. And I don't think I'm unique in this aspect. Now, do we really want to let loose a machine designed for killing that we don't have an easy way to shut off and that we know will have bugs in it?

    .haeger

    --
    You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
  3. where is the obligatory by slashdotmsiriv · · Score: 5, Insightful

    youhave30secondstocomply tag?

  4. Re:I thought, everything that could go wrong in Ir by Alex+Belits · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hospitals, schools, and businesses are being built. Most places are peaceful with some remaining hotspots. The Iraqi army is taking a more active role in dealing with the insurgents and extremists with our armed forces taking on more of a support role. So it's back to how it was under Saddam, except now there are also some foreign terrorists and foreign military there? MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  5. Re:I thought, everything that could go wrong in Ir by Asic+Eng · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok lets see: you started the Iraq war in 2003, it cost ~$845 billion so far, the occupation costs continue at $195 million per day. There is no way you can use terms like "things are mostly going rather well over there" in this context. Apart from that ~100000 dead are accurately described as a bloodbath.

  6. Replacing a little gun with a bigger one by bobv-pillars-net · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So after reading the article and associated links, I gather that:

    1. The U.S. Army commissioned Foster-Miller to modify their TALON remote-controlled vehicle to carry and operate various types of weapons. The modified vehicle is named SWORDS, and erroneously described as a "robot", although it is neither human-like in appearance nor autonomous in operation.

    2. Some time later, the Army canceled the production order, citing an "unexpected movement" of a single test unit.

    3. Simultaneously, the Army purchased, from the same company, a bigger, badder version of the same product.

    Folks, this isn't a failed robotic uprising. It isn't even the over-reaction of a safety-conscious Army Executive. This is an excuse to kill a little project in order to start a bigger one.

    --
    The Web is like Usenet, but
    the elephants are untrained.