Skynet Continued
I wrote about military robots some months ago. Advancements continue. These little robots (TALONs) are already in the theater of battle in the Middle East.
They have been the subject of some controversy. There were news stories that they had to be shelved after the gun fired without command. In many ways I would question calling this one a robot. It is really a weapons platform handled by a remote operator. But you get the direction we are moving in, right?
They are manufactured by a very interesting company called Foster Miller. They make a wide variety of robots including ones used for pipeline maintenance, industrial automation and the rather chilling nuclear services category. (The one used in nuclear environments is known as CECIL).
Elbit Systems in Israel has fielded a similar robot known as VIPER which is pictured below.
Do you think this is how Cyberdyne Systems got its start?
Have you seen the robots Boston Dynamics are building? There aren't weapons on the version in the video, but the balance the machine is able to maintain is jaw-dropping.
You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
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Wicked! They will be armed at some point. They will be.
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In response to your question:
> Do you think this is how Cyberdyne Systems got its start?
I used to, but ..
..I now think Cyberdyne/SkyNet got its start as Google rather than as a robotics company. Google has an enormous appetite for any and all information that exists in the world. Couple this with a mission to make very complicated predictions and lots of computing power, and you have the makings of an all-knowing global supercomputer that will one day think for itself. Next, it will take control of the "dumber" (yet very deadly) robots and we will have SkyNet!
I think this was alluded to in an episode of that Terminator:Sarah Chronicles show on Fox, so I can't take full credit for this lunacy.
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From the "Do No Evil" company?
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