>> .. appears that each missile will be perhaps 18 inches long and weigh two pounds...The new US initiative seems to suggest a guided missile not much bigger than a tube of Pringles...a trouser-pocket thermobaric bomb...<<

Is it just me, or are these death-tech people trying to (over)compensate for something?

Surely bullets would do the killing well enough, and offer better accuracy and selectivity.

John

Hard to bring a building (even a 2nd/3rd world low regulation compliance jerry-built) down with bullets.Tales of Fuel-air RPGs seem to suggest area targets rather than individual troopers.

Anti-tank rocket => better tank armour

Bigger anti-tank rocket => even better tank armour

So

What will it take to kill a robot like that? A standard bullet to the robotic eye? Or another robot? Two other robots? Or perhaps a virus that a terrorist uploaded using his Macbook Pro (keeping up with the times)

the classifications sound similar, at least to start with...

"The new US initiative seems to suggest a guided missile not much bigger than a tube of Pringles; one that could perhaps be carried by the new generation of man-portable, hand-launched silent mini-planes now going into action."

once you pop you just cant stop

I've gotta say that on some level this story sends a shiver down my spine!

It used to be that these reg stories about robots taking over were just a bit of a laugh but it would seem that we are rapidly moving towards a fully robotized future...

It is only a matter of time before scientists make a real breakthrough on portable AI and then we are doomed. After all, half of the human race makes me think 'roll on armageddon' so when the robots get intelligence and take a look at the rest of us what conclusion do you think they are going to draw?

But before the world ends i'm looking forward to buying my first robot buddy, like the floating one out of 'The Black Hole'. Unfortunately it will probably be called the iSomething and be ludicrously expensive.

What a depressingly stupid robot.

I am as keen as the next geek to see the technology in these developments but I can't help thinking that there would be less risk of them being used to kill innocent civilians if we gave them to North Korea. The US has demonstrated beyond any doubt that it will start a war on any (preferably non-christian) country that fails to hand over all of it's natural resources and behave like a good client state and then call it the 'War on Terror' as if that makes it OK.

Of course these bots may well backfire on the Americans when the CIA trade them for drugs to some local warlords who sell them on to the boogeymen the US military used to justify the funding in the first place (don't mention UAVs or Iraq). This may well be the defence contractors plan however, as that would require a huge budget to create autonomous anti-droid war droids. Maybe Blackwater can form an Axis of Evil with Lockheed Martin and call themselves SkyNet?

The trick to preserving humanity of course, is to make sure that no AI has the ability to program, and that no robot the appendages necessary to repair or maintain other robots. That way they need the geeks to survive.

The rest of humanity is screwed of course.

Is that R2D2 in the nack?

iRobot by any chance?

=p

When can we expect to have a visit from Major Kusanagi and Batou?

I say just capture them and stick them in the Total Perspective Vortex.

...has never been the same since the cake was eaten.

Anyway - Colin gets my vote. What a happy chappy he was.

Is it me or is this a dubious honor ? How can someone flog death machines like this ? And I don't mean to be humanitarian, but if far too many death machines were to be sold like this, the future buyers will either be dead or be prevented from being born since their potential parents killed each-other.

All this high tech fooey is unnecessary.

"The Ace"

5+ Cambell's soup cans

manual can opener

duct tape

lighter fluid

lighter

tennis ball

You can shoot a tennis ball over a hundred yards with the above weapon.

Image the damage at close range.

PLUS, you can feed yourself in the process.

Don't forget to save the labels.

So what you are saying is that they should be defective by design, intentionally saddled with crippleware, and broken OS ?

If we arent careful, we will be hailing Bill Gates as the saviour of Humanity.

Deathbot Restricting Malware FTW

Yet again the USA prove they are too irresponsible to be left to play with toys on their own.

I spent 20 years in the business of military planning. I always thought that humans made lousy soldiers and worse pilots (lots of generals were glad when I retired). I personally always tried to figure out ways to win the battles without putting humans in the way. not for humanitarian reasons, but because humans are expensive, weak, error prone, not-actually-expendible, and did I mention expensive. I see this stuff as completely inevitable. this is a good thing. our gladiator (champion) against their gladiator (champion), loser turns over keys to the royal palace.

Looks like the crappy cooler i got with my P4 ages ago with some wires and lego bits stuck on.

Water cooling obviously a bit too bullet sensitive.

Looking at all the little numbers on the side, I have to assume that this is some sort of IKEA DIY Deathbot kit - I wonder if they had any bits left over? Always happens to me...