iRobot Corp.: Arming Robots with Tasers
July 1st, 2007Via: AP / MSNBC:
RoboCops and robot soldiers got a little closer to reality Thursday as a maker of floor-cleaning automatons teamed up with a stun-gun manufacturer to arm track-wheeled ‘bots for the police and the Pentagon.
By adding Tasers to robots it already makes for the military, iRobot Corp. says it hopes to give soldiers and law enforcement a defensive, non-lethal tool.
But some observers fear such developments could ultimately lead to robots capable of deciding on their own when to shoot and kill.
“It’s one more step in that direction,” said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based military research organization.
“It is not the first step in that direction, but I think at some point toward the end of the next decade, you’re going to start seeing RoboCops, or a Terminator,” Pike said, referring to a pair of 1980s robot-themed sci-fi films. “We may see autonomous robots capable of inflicting lethal force.”
I’ve often wondered… what would be the effect of a “Mithril coat” on a taser? i.e. A conductive garment. At the very least it would protect the wearer from (most? all?) of the taser current. I don’t suppose that tasers are built to supply the high-current-demand that would result from close-to-zero resistance.
In the old days, there used to be men who waited in the bushes to waylay passersby. They were called “highwaymen.” Now most of them have gone into preaching. They still threaten people (with eternal damnation) and people give them their money. Same profession. Thank goodness only a few of them joined the police. Actually, there seem to be more of them now, than before.
Anything thick or hard enough to keep the (on average, 4) darts from penetrating/reaching the skin also provides immunity from such high voltage, low current weapons.
Microwaves also make an effective anti-robot weapon, unless the robot is well shielded. We use them to destroy classified electronics and electronic media (i.e. cdroms, hard disks, etc). Those with pacemakers already know this.
Tazers?
Check out this story about robotic sentry guns which are being put up to “watch over” the south/north Korean border.
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=762