Technology. Without Error

Sounds like a sci-fi flick? Well it could be closer to reality than you think. Military applications for robotics is one of the fastest progressing technology areas and more and more applications are being developed each day. Though we would not be having “robocop” anytime soon, we could soon be having automated weapons which think and analyse “threats” and eliminate them as required. Which means basically, automated search and destroy weaponry. These weapons are already here. With the developments in more and more powerful chips and more compact technology available from even the shop around the corner, it does not seem all that surprising.
Professor Noel Sharkey, well known for his role in BBC’s Robot Wars, says he is scared by the pace at which armed forces across the world, especially in the United States, are adopting robot weapons and have done little to create international laws or an ethical code on their use.

“In case of robot weapons, it is the robot which decides ‘who to kill’, ‘where to kill’ and ‘when to kill’. This is treading on a danger path,”

Which would really mean artificial intelligence is taking over faster than we think. The US for instance is set to spend $4 billion by 2010 and $24 billion by 2013 on developing unmanned fully autonomous military robots. The US is also testing its latest addition to its air fleet called the Reaper, a pack of unmanned aeroplanes which talk to each other and decide which target to kill and it also successfully tested another unmanned fully autonomous land vehicle named the Crusher, which is a 7-tonne strong truck fitted with guns and bombs. So then the only thing left to do is for me to sign off this post by saying “Asta Lavista, baby”