Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

CUPID Intercept Drone Like Niven's Copseye

The CUPID (Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone) is a prototype device designed by Chaotic Moon's co-founder William Hurley; take a look at this demonstration firing in SXSW in Austin, Texas.


(Video of Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone (Cupid))

The drone is called cupid CUPID, a Tarot hexacopter equipped with an 80,000-volt stun gun. (Most police-issue Tasers top out at 50,000.)

Whurley has a whole plan about how CUPID might actually function in the world. If you were protecting a set property against intruders, for instance, it would be easy to have CUPID approach anyone who crosses a certain threshold and beam a picture back to the property owner. If the property owner doesn't authorize the intruder, it would be easy to have speakers on the drone issue a stock warning and, if the intruder doesn't comply, alert the authorities and tase them into submission until the police arrive. This goes way beyond the demo we saw, but Whurley insists it could be done with only minimal changes to the device we saw.

Larry Niven visualized this device (he called them "copsyes") from his 1972 story Cloak of Anarchy:

Someone at police headquarters had expected that. Twice the usual number of copseyes floated overhead, waiting. Gold dots against blue, basketball-sized, twelve feet up. Each a television eye and a sonic stunner, each a hookup to police headquarters, they were there to enforce the law of the Park.
(Read more about Niven's copseyes)

Via Metro and Chaotic Moon.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/9/2014)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Surveillance ")

LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.

Chameleon Personalized Privacy Protection Mask
'...the Virtual Epiphantic Identity Lustre.' - Neal Stephenson, 2019.

Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China
'Rand could effectively be in several places at once...' - Niven and Pournelle, 1981.

Vietnam To Have Full Biometric Transparency
'inscriptions too small to be seen with the naked eye; microscopic data...' - Eric Frank Russell, 1939.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Sunday Robotics 'Memo
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'

Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'

Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'

Spidery 'Walk Me' Toyota Autonomous Wheel Chair Like Star Wars
Walk along with the emperor.

Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'

Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'

Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'

The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.

Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'

PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'

Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'

iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'

ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'

iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'

Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the lit­tle device was!

Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.