
IRobot Rolls Out Pocket-Sized, One-Pound Machine, Ready to Swarm - naish
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/05/video-irobot-rolls-out-one-pound-machine-ready-to-swarm/
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ivankirigin
I was at iRobot when this proposal was written. Very cool application for mesh
networking.

Radio comms are so bad when deployed. This kind of ad hoc network builder is
awesome.

That said, this is the first new robot that the Government & Industrial
division has put out since I left. I really want to see a deployed Warrior
(PackBot's big brother). iRobot is a perfect example of a company that seems
to be suffering from inability to innovate as a public company. The talent is
there though.

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grinich
Do you know if it has only one motor?

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ivankirigin
As you can see from the video, it has flippers and wheel that power the
treads. I don't know much about the internals.

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grinich
Yeah, but I never saw the flippers running at the same time as the main
treads, so it could be a possibility.

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lionheart
Is it just me or has the military been going through a complete revolution in
the last decade?

Robotics, UAVs, etc. all take the human equation out of the surveillance and
even the fighting. This is a completely radical departure from the past.

I just wonder where it will all lead.

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ph0rque
What happens when two enemy countries/entities have sufficiently advanced
robotic troops to have robots fighting robots?

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ivankirigin
Like two robotic missiles that can attack the other country automatically?
Like ICBMs? Or landmines?

Automated tools of warfare aren't new.

That this is brought up every fucking time a robot comes within a mile of the
military is a really tired meme. Seriously. Go read every single issue of
wired. I dare you to find a mention of robotics that doesn't bring up
Terminator.

It's just lazy thinking.

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ph0rque
Wow... didn't mean to set you off like that. Can you expound on why my comment
is an example of lazy thinking?

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ivankirigin
It was more the trend for discussions about robots in the military to degrade
that annoyed me. This thread is going down that path.

You specifically were lazy in that we already have automated tools of killing
each other and each others automated tools. It is heavy influence of hollywood
that makes us think something without a human on board is fundamentaly
different.

Robot armies fighting each other and super AI taking over military robots are
two of the most common topics brought up in the context of military robots,
and two of the least realistic or likely.

It's particularly irrelevant in a story about a mini robot used as a radio
relay, 100% human controlled, with no weapons. This thing is a wi-fi repeater
with a camera on top of an RC car.

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noonespecial
You're not alone. The over-hyped "terminator case" is not only tiring, its
also ridiculously unlikely and not even very scary. These _are_ just wifi AP's
on rc cars. With openWRT, and $40 at the Rat-Shak, you could make one too. And
that's whats really scary. It only costs $40 now to make the land mines walk.

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ivankirigin
I'm much more concerned about suitcase nukes and a grad student that could
make a super virus. I'll almost certainly die of the latter :(

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iman
This looks very similar to the "Eye Drive"[1] mini robot developed by the
Israelis, and already in use by the IDF (according to an article[2] in the
Jerusalem Post). The company's promotional video[3] of the robot shows it in
action.

[1] <http://www.odfopt.com/eyedrive/Eye_Drive_home.htm> [2]
[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArti...](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1233304811438)
[3] <http://www.odfopt.com/Movies/eyedrive_new_movie.wmv>

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bmickler
I just want to know how that thing got OVER the rail road track into the
middle of the tracks.

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dfranke
Reminds me of the spiders from Minority Report.

