The prospect of an entirely robotic war is interesting to me. No more bloodshed, the winner is determined by the amount of technological progress they manage to achieve and put into use. Wars could actually become somewhat useful for humanity as means to improve technologies (they already do, but the death toll that comes with them is kind of a shitty side-effect).
I'm surprised they didn't mention ATLAS. http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/aboutrobots.aspx
It looks so much like the terminator I wonder if it's a coincidence.
Fantasy talk for a second. . . ok, so if robots have far greater accuracy and of course options for self-exposure within a battlefield, why can't their primary directive be to shoot (literally) the guns of the enemy. It would be great if the technology was directed in a way for the robots not be "killer" but rather to shoot at the actual weapon someone is holding and not their person.
I'd settle for a really good vacuum cleaner. I've been holding out for years now. Shouldn't that problem be easier to solve? Killer robots always garner headlines but there are a still a few practical robots away from the real revolution. The real revolution happens once consumers enter the picture.
I think the major concerns with "infantry drones" are signal hijacking/jamming and physical tampering - the latter could be remedied with a well designed body, as well as a fast self-defense system (a gun or at least a high power laser to quickly disable any approaching enemies)...
Shouln't military throw a tanker of money at computer vision researchers right about now?
I hope this will finally make farad (or even kilofarad) capacitors cheap and available. There is no better engine for innovation than arms race.
- General, Im proud to announce that after decades of research of our brightest scientists our country can make robots!
- Great, now its just put a gun in their hands and teach them how to kill!
Total failure of the human kind: Technologically advanced morally corrupt
DISASSEMBLE? NO DISASSEMBLE!!!
YOUR MOTHER WAS A SNOW-BLOWER!
Because a robot with an automatic rifle is way scarier than a robot with a semi-automatic rifle.
Other than keeping our casualties down, this actually might stop some civilian casualties. Since the operator of the gun is not in mortal danger, s/he can pause that briefest of moments to decide if the person s/he is shooting at should be shot.