
Killer robots pose latest militant threat - jmorin007
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2632904820080227
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jgrahamc
This has been extremely obvious to anyone working on DIY drones. This was
discussed last year on the DIY Drones web site:
[http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844:BlogPost:2...](http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844:BlogPost:2765)

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noonespecial
Also people have been flying remote controlled aircraft since the 50's. You
don't need a super-duper autonomous gps guided drone when you can just stand
on the roof with the remote. Just look at how they use IED's and cell phones.

All of this raises the inevitable question: If a robot does the killin', does
it get 72 virgin sexbots?

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ivankirigin
Remote detonation via signal wire is replacing cell-activated IEDs.

You can counter a radio signal, but not a hard wire that is inactive till it
is tripped. Think of those old TNT levers that set off some old movie
explosion, with the wire coiling away from the bomb.

Those lines are buried for kilometers. Someone on a phone calls the person who
is going to trip the bomb right as the convoy approaches.

It is a really hard problem to counter. The best detection rate will likely be
from a vision algorithm that can detect changes in the dirt around some
garbage pile used to cover a IED. That kind of vision algorithm is extremely
hard to make.

Either way, bombs are already automated. Even third world countries make use
of the most vicious robot in the world, requiring no recharge, and lasting for
decades: land mines.

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ivankirigin
I'm amazed when professors do work that amounts to little more than link bait.

Prediction: Robot militants will have sex with humans in nanotech super-AI
gray goo.

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boredguy8
That's just because only superpowers can afford "god rods":
[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/00...](http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/700oklkt.asp)

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dkokelley
About 6 years ago I worked on my own "Battlebot." The thought of mounting a
camera and a machine gun to the thing certainly crossed my mind as a simple
"lifeless soldier" option for the military.

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Hexstream
I'm more concerned about Bush getting those than the alleged terrorists.

