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Armed Robot Drones To Join UK Police Force

Lanxon writes "British criminals should soon prepare to be shot at from unmanned airborne police robots. Last month it was revealed that modified military aircraft drones will carry out surveillance on everyone from British protesters and antisocial motorists to fly-tippers. But these drones could be armed with tasers, non-lethal projectiles and ultra-powerful disorienting strobe lighting apparatus, reports Wired. The flying robot fleet will range from miniature tactical craft such as the miniature AirRobot being tested by one police force, to BAE System's new 12m-wide armed HERTI drone as flown in Afghanistan."

20 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Rubber bungs by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    The LRAD is a highly directional speaker made of a flat array of piezoelectric transducers, producing intense beam of sound in a 30-degree cone. It can be used as a loudhailer, or deafen the target with a jarring, discordant noise. Some ships now carry LRAD as an anti-pirate measure: It was used to drive off an attack on the Seabourn Spirit off Somalia in 2005.

    I recommend UK people carry rubber bungs to put in their ears, in the case of planetary destruction by Vogons and attack by insane police UAVs.

    1. Re:Rubber bungs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      WHAT?

  2. Timeline by Snarf+You · · Score: 5, Funny

    February 10 @ 6:43 PM: When Will AI Surpass Human Intelligence?
    February 10 @ 9:45 PM: Six-legged Robot Teaches Itself to Walk
    February 11 @ 2:24 AM: Armed Robot Drones to Join UK Police Force

    In less than 8 hours we have gone from wondering about AI, to robots that have learned how to walk, to robots that are flying around shooting at people. This is all happening much too fast.

    1. Re:Timeline by thhamm · · Score: 5, Funny

      February 12 @ 1:24 PM: Humanoid Robots with Sunglasses talk funny Austrian Accent

    2. Re:Timeline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      February 11 @ 8:32 AM: Toasters take over Earth

    3. Re:Timeline by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

      Worst. Attempt to explain a lame and obscure inside joke in order to get modded up. Ever.

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      rewriting history since 2109
    4. Re:Timeline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Patch Tuesday @ 1:00 AM: .....Does Killbot 2010 want to send an error report to Microsoft?

    5. Re:Timeline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Score 2? Could at least use a 3/Funny. Clearly a very apt Simpsons ref to Jeff Albertson, commonly known as Comic Book Guy's line "Worst. Episode. Ever!" from the episodes "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", "Saddlesore Galactica", and "Worst Episode Ever". Kudos!

  3. Re:What could possibly go wrong... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    throw in nuclear powered autonomous plains too...

    Autonomous geographical features? Sounds like a slowly developing problem to me.

  4. Well I for one... by Anarki2004 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think you know where this is going...

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    The teachers will crack any minute, purple monkey dishwasher.
  5. Re:What could possibly go wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I favor autonomous forests. You don't need that much food and the extra production is worth it.

  6. But... by johndmartiniii · · Score: 1, Funny

    will the armed robot drones run Linux?

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    If you don't know what you're doing, you can't make mistakes.
  7. Re:Obligatory 1984 Reference by iamapizza · · Score: 5, Funny

    And because it's Britain, there isn't much to worry about. The project will be delayed by 8 years, overrun its budget by about 12 Million GBP. They'll come up with a crap logo for it as they did for the Olympics, and within a few hours of launch, the drones will malfunction and start tasering trees; eventually the whole project will be scrapped for health and safety reasons, I mean, what if the tree falls on someone while it's being tasered?

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    Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
  8. Am I the only one who thinks... by lxs · · Score: 2, Funny

    That flying ultra-powerful strobes are perfect for an outdoor rave?

  9. Re:Obligatory 1984 Reference by jimicus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually, I'd have to disagree with that.

    They'll find a way to monetise this - have the robots automatically hand out fines, for instance - and believe me, within a year they will be amazingly efficient.

  10. Tactical Nukes by Odinlake · · Score: 3, Funny

    on unmaned remote controled vehicles is ultimately the only thing that will deter shoplifters.

  11. Re:Idiots on parade by TranceThrust · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sister Miriam, is that you?

  12. Re:Not impossible, but very unlikely by netpixie · · Score: 2, Funny

    I walked for an hour in London yesterday and saw absolutely hundreds.

    Everywhere I looked there was another Policeman staring at me. To tell you the truth, it began to worry me after a while.

  13. Re:One word: . . . by delinear · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know, as much as it would suck to be ruled over by a totalitarian government with their own private police force, if we could have Daleks, I might forgive them.

  14. Re:Obligatory 1984 Reference by moosesocks · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eventually, however, the robots reach the point where they are both functional and profitable for the government. Subsequently, Margaret Thatcher will be re-elected, and the robots will be privatized as Robocops, Plc, and will never work again.

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    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose