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Science & Technology

Iraq grunts mourn loss of robot comrade

2006-06-07

Those of us chronicling the inexorable Rise of the Machines know only too well the dangers of forming emotional bonds with technology - albeit a mere fondness for your Dyson, or a slight affection for your new Renault Laguna.

The reason, as members of the neoLuddite Resistance Army among you are already aware, is that as soon as you have formed a comfortable, trusting relationship with your machine than it will kick you down the stairs in an display of vacuuminous rage or subject you to a 125mph, white-knuckle kamikaze terror ordeal.

It is, then, with dismay that we offer a Reuters report on the growing tendency for front-line US troops in Iraq to get friendly with their iRobot PackBot EOD (seen right) - a bomb-disposal droid version of IRobot Inc's remote-controlled bot, of which around 300 are currently deployed in that sun-kissed paradise astride the Tigris.

Posted by:DanNY

#16 Number 5 is alive! No disassemble ....

Posted by: lotp 2006-06-07 20:48

#15 Remoteman,

You are quite correct.
Someone (peers over his shoulder at man behind the curtain) added them after I posted the article. I don't have a real problem with it as the article is about emotional attachments which can be developed with the hunters as well as the protectors.

Posted by: DanNY 2006-06-07 20:47

#14 but do they dream of electric sheep?

Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-06-07 18:37

#13 OK, who added to packbot photo while I was posting my last comment????

Posted by: remoteman 2006-06-07 17:47

#12 Uhmmmm, not to quibble, but those ain't packbots in the photo. Those are weaponized versions of the TALON robot. The one in the middle is ready to get on the boat and go to war. The other two were experiments that will not see production.

Posted by: remoteman 2006-06-07 17:47

#11 //Those of us chronicling the inexorable Rise of the Machines know only too well the dangers of forming emotional bonds with technology //

jus ask thes guy

Posted by: muck4doo 2006-06-07 17:20

#10 Oh, the machinery!

Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-06-07 12:44

#9 Aye, if Keith Laumer had only lived to see this day.

Posted by: DanNY 2006-06-07 11:16

#8 Even cooler- Bolos!

Posted by: jay-dubya 2006-06-07 10:55

#7 Kewl, Red Dwarf!!!

Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-06-07 10:04

#6 "I think it's very rational. [Scooby Doo] was someone, something, that was doing a great service for them and thus when they brought it back, it was viewed not just as a loss of a machine gun or a piece of body armor or a helmet. It was a loss of a contributing member of the team."

FOR THE HONOR OF THE REGIMENT
The rear elements of the infantry are in sight now. They look like dung beetles in their hard suits, crawling backward beneath a rain of shrapnel. I am within range of their low-power communications net. "Hold what you got, troops," orders the unit's acting commander. "Big Brother's come to help!"

I am not Big Brother. I am Maldon, a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade. The lineage of our unit goes back to the 2nd South Wessex Dragoons. In 1944, we broke the last German resistance on the path to Falaisethough we traded our flimsy Cromwells against the Tigers at a ration of six to one to do it.

The citizens do not need to know what the cost is. They need only to know that the mission has been accomplished. The battle honors welded to my turret prove that I have always accomplished my mission.

Posted by: Steve 2006-06-07 09:11

#5 KRYTEN: Oh, it's not the end for me, sir, it's just the beginning. I
have served my human masters, now I can look forward to my reward in
silicon heaven.
LISTER: (Stunned pause.) Silicon _what_?
KRYTEN: Surely you've heard of silicon heaven?
LISTER: Has it got anything to do with being stuck opposite Bridgette
Nielson in a packed lift?
KRYTEN: It's the electronic afterlife! It's the gathering place for the
souls of all electonic equipment. Robots, calculators, toasters,
hairdryers -- it's our final resting place.
LISTER: I don't mean to say anything out of place here, Kryten, but that
is completely whacko, Jacko. There is no such thing as "silicon
heaven."
KRYTEN: Then where do all the calculators go?
LISTER: They don't go anywhere! They just die.
KRYTEN: Surely you believe that god is in all things? Aren't you a
pantheist?
LISTER: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm
not a _frying_ pantheist! Machines do not have souls. Computers and
calculators do not have an afterlife. You don't get hairdryers with
tiny little wings, sitting on clouds and playing harps!
KRYTEN: But of course you do! For is it not written in the Electronic
Bible, "The iron shall lie down with the lamp?" Well, it's common
sense, sir. If there were no afterlife to look forward to, why on
Earth would machines spend the whole of their lifes serving mankind?
Now that would be really dumb!
LISTER: (Quietly) That makes sense. Yeah. Silicon heaven.
KRYTEN: Don't be sad, Mr David. I am going to a far, far better place.
LISTER: Just out of interest: Is silicon heaven the same place as human
heaven?
KRYTEN: Human heaven? Goodness me! Humans don't go to heaven! No,
someone made that up to prevent you all from going nuts!

Posted by: bruce 2006-06-07 07:32

#4 Maybe they'll one day grow up to be D-9's.

Varoon Varoom, clank clank clank.

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Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-07 04:12

#3 But will a good bot go to heaven?

Of course! It's the bad bots that get to go everywhere!

Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2006-06-07 02:15

#2 chapter three of "wierd desert romances"--pvt smith...put down that bot--that is my bot--i had my eyes on it first--grease it up--////yessir--she sure rolls purty

Posted by: yo momma 2006-06-07 02:05

#1 Must admit, I dropped a tear myself.

But will a good bot go to heaven?

Posted by: Captain America 2006-06-07 00:48

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