Another Robotic Vehicle to Help Soldiers 154
Roland Piquepaille writes "There are many teams of U.S. scientists working on robots able to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq before they can kill American soldiers. Today, let's look at an effort going on at Florida State University (FSU) to build unmanned ground vehicles that could save soldiers' lives. The researchers are creating complex algorithms to control these robots who will have to integrate many different factors such as the type of ground surface or obstacles that might block the vehicle's path. Some of these robots, which also could be used for civilian missions, are currently being tested at FSU. Read more for additional references and pictures of these robots which will have to navigate among dense obstacles."
where this is leading (Score:3, Interesting)
Is it possible to use a targetted EMP burst? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Is it possible to use a targetted EMP burst? (Score:1, Interesting)
Whatever happened to the right to peace and quiet in our homes? Your rights stop where mines start.
Oh, and the new Slashdot looks SUCKS - This isn't a "news for nerds" look, it's a "I'm a futuristic designer" look...
Re:where this is leading (Score:3, Interesting)
The economy gets a war boost, the government gets to throw its weight around and the only real cost is the death of a bunch of people that aren't American; everybody wins!
Ok, sarcasm aside I do like the idea of robotizing (it's a real word, look it up!) the army as much as we can. Many a great peace-time inventions started as or were sped up by military investment. Think of what a systematizing of something as complex as the military could do for advancements in public and private robotics, AI, or IT!
Heh? How does that help? (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh wait, here is an idea. EM bomb. No ignition, No Boom.
Re:better solution.. (Score:1, Interesting)
When will this stupid meme die. Islamofascist is not a good description of militant Islamists; fascism is about more than just a powerful and brutal state. From the Wikipedia entry [wikipedia.org]:
Nationalism is a key component of fascism. The Islamist movement was weaned on fighting the Arab Nationalists. Their ideologies, while both repulsing, are fundamentally incompatable.
Re:where this is leading (Score:2, Interesting)
Robotizing the military will probably continue to have this effect at first. But as we get more efficiant with it and are able to control them from futher away, it will dwindle. We will see less of an argument against going war and probably an increase in war (war like actions). I'm not totaly against that but i fear some leaders might not have sound judgment when considering what will necessitate a war. This just makes the reprecusions and the stakes different. I would say why can't we just have both sides of a ocnflict build robats and let them do battle but that wouldn't work. Imagine having some sort of competition like the olympic to have peace. For some reason (even in video games) Killing a machine doesn't seem as rewarding as taking out the people making the machines. I hope this doesn't turn into the modern day trench warfar with simular results of WW1.
The robot i would like to see, (Score:3, Interesting)
Make this controlable by a couple of nitendo/xbox style controlers with a sighting relay and let it escort every convoy they run in hostile teritory. All the other vehicles need to do is stay back and follow the wet areas. If it does detonate something, it can push it aside, pick it up with the arms and move it or even do a quicky repair to the road to let the other vehilces pass. Give it a UAV for extended sensor information gathering.
The billion dollar cork (Score:2, Interesting)