Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans
October 24th, 2008Would you like some freedom fries with that? Via: New Scientist: The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”. One thing that really bugs defence […]
DARPA Contract Description Hints at Advanced Video Spying
October 20th, 2008More inputs for Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation. Via: Washington Post: Real-time streaming video of Iraqi and Afghan battle areas taken from thousands of feet in the air can follow actions of people on the ground as they dig, shake hands, exchange objects and kiss each other goodbye. The video is sent from unmanned […]
New Homeland Security Magic 8 Ball Removes Terrorists Fast! Now with 100% More WTF?
September 24th, 2008“Sorry, officer, I’ve been reading Cryptogon for so many years I thought the twitching would have stopped by now.” Via: Fox News: Baggage searches are SOOOOOO early-21st century. Homeland Security is now testing the next generation of security screening — a body scanner that can read your mind. Most preventive screening looks for explosives or […]
And Now: The Killer Drones that Can See Through Walls
September 21st, 2008Via: Slate: Both reports focus on “detecting and identifying humans enclosed in building structures.” “Through-the-wall sensing is currently a topic of great interest to defense agencies both in the U.S. and abroad,” says the April report. “The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has been active in all these fields of investigation, approaching these issues both […]
Finally, a Presidential Ticket Worth Backing: Tigh/Roslin 2008
September 3rd, 2008Providing Strength and Purpose for all, the choice in 2008 is clear: Tigh & Roslin.
The Numerati
August 30th, 2008After staring down the bottomless abyss of formal schooling, this is what the best and brightest can expect when working for IBM: Full time, automated surveillance by a Magic 8 Ball system that will match “commoditized” workers to tasks and monitor their progress on a minute by minute basis. Via: Business Week: By building mathematical […]
Uncle Sam Wants Your Brain
August 25th, 2008Via: Wired: Drugs that make soldiers want to fight. Robots linked directly to their controllers’ brains. Lie-detecting scans administered to terrorist suspects as they cross U.S. borders. These are just a few of the military uses imagined for cognitive science — and if it’s not yet certain whether the technologies will work, the military is […]
U.S. Military Wants Solar Powered UAV that Can Orbit an Area for Five Years
August 24th, 2008Via: BBC: A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft. The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight. The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is […]
Swarms of Robots Join the Army
August 21st, 2008Via: Guardian: Small robots working in swarms have finally moved out of the laboratory and into the real world. That was the most significant feature of the Ministry of Defence’s Grand Challenge competition, held over the weekend. It’s an idea that is also being pursued by the US military. The advantages of a decentralised swarm […]
A ‘Frankenrobot’ with a Biological Brain
August 14th, 2008Four years ago, the same technique was used to teach a network of rat neurons to fly a jet in a flight simulator game. See: ‘Brain’ in a Dish Flies Flight Simulator. This thing below is another Kevin Warwick production. * roll eyes * Via: AFP: Meet Gordon, probably the world’s first robot controlled exclusively […]
