Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

16 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Surplus availability? by symbolset · · Score: 5, Funny

    So how long before these are available at Army Surplus? I have some cute ideas for mods.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  2. 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!

    3. Re:Somehow reminds me of Asimov... by xtracto · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Asimov is smarter than you give him credit for. :)

      Not to mention his book on Physics (real physics, very easy to follow) and his review of the Bible (a historic view of the old and new testament) among others.

      I really enjoyed a book of him that I found in used books store. I do not remember now the name of the book now but it was something like "Asimov on Mathematics" and it contained a bunch of articles written by him discussing several mathematics issues such as large numbers, small numbers, the decimals in PI, etc. Really good stuff.

      Oh, and I think it was in that same book that he have some comments about Star Wars films. I think it was quite neat to read him commenting about it.

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  3. I for one by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny
    welcome our new robotic ...

    On second thought.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. I thought, everything that could go wrong in Iraq by Alex+Belits · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...already went wrong, yet US military always finds a way to surprise me.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  5. Vista by methamorph · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should stop putting Vista into war robots.

    1. Re:Vista by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny

      You must be mistaken; if they put Vista into these, they would just sit there motionless.

    2. Re:Vista by rishistar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey this was definitely OSX man. Vista would have first asked: I am about to shoot you. Cancel/Allow?

      --
      Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
  6. 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
    1. Re:One of the problems. by louks · · Score: 5, Funny
      "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."

      It's easy:

      10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD!"
      20 GOTO 100
      ...dang it.
    2. Re:One of the problems. by NoisySplatter · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think you're misunderstanding how this particular machine operates. It has nothing to do with software , nor is it capable of operating autonomously. It's all about mechanical components and remote control. There is not even a hint of targeting, motion compensation, or stabilization.

      I operated one of these systems on top of my truck in Iraq. It was possibly the biggest waste of effort ever. When we went over even slightly rough terrain it would shake itself apart so badly that i had to tighten its bolts of several times a day. If i could find the appropriate sized allen wrench that is. Even then it would stop moving without any apparent reason. Like it was stuck or something.

      The view it offered was vastly inferior to just being in the turret myself. I couldn't see anything that wasn't straight in front of it. Ultimately we gave it back to the armory, told them it was broken and we didn't want it back. In other words, that machine is shit. I'd rather stick halfway out the top of of an armored truck than use it again.

      --
      In Soviet Russia meme tires of you!
  7. where is the obligatory by slashdotmsiriv · · Score: 5, Insightful

    youhave30secondstocomply tag?

  8. Simple Fix for bugs by JustASlashDotGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As soon as the programming managers signs off on the robots saying "They are fit for duty", you send him out along side the robot.

    Tell the manager that the robot will be fully armed and that the manager will not get so much as a vest. I assure you the quality will improve quickly.

    We do something like this at work (no, we don't shoot the programmers yet). When a new piece of software is released, the programmers have to field the support calls for 2 weeks. It's amazing how much quality improves when you have to deal with your own mistakes.

  9. Re:I thought, everything that could go wrong in Ir by BigDukeSix · · Score: 5, Informative
    Not sure which number you consider bogus, but if it's the reference for the >100,000 dead Iraqis, you want, look no further than the New England Journal of Medicine, January 31, 2008 issue, pages 484-493. The article is entitled "Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002-2006".

    This is the first war that has had a careful statistical study of civilian deaths. Since the entire world knew this war was going to happen well in advance, the WHO sent researchers to perform what's called cluster analysis- they identified 10,000 households and then visited them repeatedly over the next three years to determine actual mortality. They then extrapolated to the population of the country as a whole.

    Result: 151,000 excess violent deaths (95% CI, 104000-233000).