Article

2004-04-13 Iraq-Jordan

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by rkb 2004-04-13 1:03:34 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 oh i thought this going be about chainey but it not. my bad.

Posted by muck4doo 2004-04-13 1:38:24 PM|| [http://www.lettuceladies.com/meet.html] 2004-04-13 1:38:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 How long until someone calls the use of robots a "war crime"?

Posted by Robert Crawford 2004-04-13 1:49:00 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com] 2004-04-13 1:49:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 "How long until someone calls the use of robots a "war crime"?"

Whenever that happens, it will be quickly followed by cry to "End the robot slavery!", and then we'll get into the law suits for reparations...

Posted by Laurence of the Rats 2004-04-13 1:54:00 PM|| 2004-04-13 1:54:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Robbie the Robot, Robot B-3, and Mr. Data, starring in:

"They Were Expendable!"

Posted by Mike 2004-04-13 2:13:08 PM|| 2004-04-13 2:13:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Not until the artificial intelligence software in these things passes the Turing test (can pass as human in a remote conversation). We have a few years for that.

Right now these things are mostly tele-operated, as are our UAVs. However, a LOT of work has been and is being done on autonomous robots, ones that can find their way around obstacles, identify mines, etc.

A different area of research are swarms of smart mini-missiles. Imagine sending off 25 or 30 missiles, each with its target but also in communication with each other. As a missile is lost - or a target is otherwise destroyed - the missiles negotiate with each other, agree on a different assignment of targets and as needed, change course.

Project on that is already underway ...

Posted by rkb 2004-04-13 2:15:53 PM|| 2004-04-13 2:15:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots

Posted by john 2004-04-13 2:16:19 PM|| 2004-04-13 2:16:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I'm with rkb: these things are not "robots", they are remotely operated machines. Big difference. (I was always bugged by the portrayal of Comedy Central's "BattleBots" program as a match between robots, too.)

Posted by Carl in N.H 2004-04-13 3:18:09 PM|| 2004-04-13 3:18:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Man... don't go pissing off Spirit.

Posted by Shipman 2004-04-13 4:16:23 PM|| 2004-04-13 4:16:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 PETR LOL! Way funny John.

Posted by Shipman 2004-04-13 4:17:01 PM|| 2004-04-13 4:17:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 swarms are a research area of mine. Very interesting concepts. Basically a distributed ai system where each element is relatively dumb but follows certain open ended behavioural rules. By amassing a significant number of these you get what is called emergent behavior. This emergent behavior shows characteristics that are greater than the sum of the parts.

Brave new world indeed. We are approaching Ray Kurzweil's singularity. The rate of change of rate of change of new technology will enable the US to fight absolutely ridiculous odds.

Posted by Capt Joe 2004-04-13 4:30:26 PM|| 2004-04-13 4:30:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 here's the link to Kurzweil's article

Posted by Ptah 2004-04-13 6:45:16 PM|| [http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2004-04-13 6:45:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 rkb I agree with you that these things are remotely operated vehicles, and real robots require autonomous action. However, the Turing test and AI are largely irrelevant to the problem of developing robots. I consider AI a particularly meaningless term as we don't know what real intelligence is. So talking about an artificial variant is not very helpful. The robots we have seen to date and will continue to see are task specific and over time the number and range of tasks performed will gradually increase. There aint no 'Silver Bullet'. Otherwise CJ identifies an important issue, which is how you distribute the problem is key to how you solve it.

Posted by Phil B 2004-04-13 7:45:36 PM|| 2004-04-13 7:45:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Well, although my research area is intelligent software agents making decisions, and although I've been briefed on a number of military robots, I'll certainly defer to those who have more direct experience on these issues. [smile]

Posted by rkb 2004-04-13 8:51:49 PM|| 2004-04-13 8:51:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 I think the criteria for being a robot should include the ability to swear like Winston Churchill's parrot and the ability to flip people off like the orangutan in Every Which Way but Loose. The grandmother in that flick was pretty good at swearing also.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-04-13 10:37:29 PM|| 2004-04-13 10:37:29 PM|| Front Page Top

10:03 B
10:02 B
09:23 muck4doo
01:44 B
01:42 B
01:35 BigEdLB
01:35 OldSpook
00:31 Super Hose
00:24 Super Hose
00:20 Super Hose
00:15 RWV
00:06 Long Hair Republican
23:58 OldeForce
23:55 Frank Martin
23:38 Anonymous4156
23:35 ruprecht
23:27 Gromky
23:23 tu3031
23:18 Barbara Skolaut
23:18 Raj
23:16 Gromky
23:10 JAB
23:07 Barbara Skolaut
23:05 whitecollar redneck