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
 |
SWORDS Robots Pulled From Iraq For Bad Behavior
Three armed robots were sent to Iraq last year; however, these remote-operated units were pulled almost immediately. The SWORDS units (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems), which are modified Talon robots in use for at least four years, were removed before firing a shot.
(SWORDS robot)
At a recent conference, Army’s Program Executive Officer for Ground Forces, Kevin Fahey, was asked what happened to SWORDS. According to Fahey, "the gun started moving when it was not intended to move," and the plug was pulled on the program.
Apparently, the military preferred to avoid the situation depicted in the 1987 movie Robocop, in which the enforcement droid ED-209 malfunctions during a demonstration and shoots some of the participants.
(ED-209 enforcement droid from Robocop)
The most likely successor to the SWORDS robot is the MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) which moves faster, has a more powerful weapon, higher torque and enhanced safety features.
MAARS incorporates "fire" and "no fire" zones in its battlefield map and cannot target allied military posts or its own control unit.
(MAARS Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System robot)
17-Apr-2008 Update: Popular Mechanics wrote a long and unclear article to clarify their earlier story - take a look at link End update.
From Non-Answer on Armed Robot Pullout From Iraq Reveals Fragile Bot Industry via Robot Pulls Gun On US Troops and MAARS battlefield robot.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/13/2008)
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 ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.' - Maureen F. McHugh, 1994.
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...' - Hal K. Wells, 1942.
China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...' - Richard Morgan, 2003.
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
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
