November 15, 2006

Real life sentry gun robot. (With video). Just like in Aliens! (YouTube).

Worth watching the vid just for the odd choice of music in the middle section. via

posted by kitfisto 18 years ago
  • Holy shit that is awesome and terrifying. These could leave countries with post-war 'forbidden zones' because the robots malfunction. Much like landmine fields. How could we clear those areas? *cups ear for response*
  • "It has a sophisticated pattern recognition which can detect the difference between humans and trees" Wow! That IS sophisticated! (It shoots up the trees anyway... but it CAN tell the difference.) "Hey, I know... let's make a thing with no judgement, that shoots people!" All we need now are people with sophisticated pattern recognition who can detect the difference between good ideas and bad ones.
  • I dunno, Mute - carpet bombing? Driving vast herds of prisoners forward until the robots are overcome by sheer force of numbers? Or maybe switch off the electricity? More helpfully (and way more ambitious), Stanford is working on a robot capable ofassembling IKEA furniture.
  • The sentry robots could be easily bypassed simply by dressing up like a tree.
  • Pleg, you're nearly there, what kind of bombs?
  • Messenger As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move. MACBETH Liar and slave! Messenger Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so: Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove.
  • > "Hey, I know... let's make a thing with no judgement, that shoots people!" Couples have been saying that to each other for generations in some parts. The targetting system on the robot doesn't look that great in the video, but I really liked the theme tune. Moreover, at $200K, the price is pretty good, compared to the $60K going rate per evil henchman perimeter control technician, plus insurance, social charges, and bonuses.
  • Oh, um carpet bombs? Nookular bombs? Robot bombs?
  • Pleg, sorry to be a quotey-drag-bum - from Aliens: "I think we should take off and nuke the place from orbit - it's the only way to be sure" Perimeter Control Technician - isn't that what South West Trains call their Ticket Inspectors? Oh no sorry, that's Revenue Protection Officers. Which sounds more scary. Henchmen get good dental.
  • The sentry robots could be easily bypassed simply by dressing up like a tree. *sets robot to 'tree' setting*
  • D'oh!
  • Surely you mean D'oak! Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week.
  • Son of a beech...
  • sick! agh more!
  • Fir shame.
  • Pine-ing for the fjords?
  • That's what I read. Would it be correct, though?
  • "How could we clear those areas?" Wait until they run out of ammo.
  • This is totally ED-209. You have fifteen seconds to comply. Who is that poor sap in the film who volunteered to play the suspect? (We didn't see the footage of the malfunctioning model. "I'm VERY disappointed in you, Dick.") And now for another tree joke: These bots will be great for the Navy -- just put 'em at the elm of the ship.
  • I was hoping that they woudl at least load somebody up with armor and make 'em run by the damn thing. C'Mon....for fun? Please? How could we clear those areas? A giant magnet?
  • Dang, scartol beat me to the RoboCop quotation. Er. Beech me to the quotation. What a pain in the aspen.
  • I went looking for the video clip, but the only one I could find was from some extended-outtakes version of Robocop, where they put back in all the footage that was deemed TOO EXCESSIVE for the original release of the movie... The ED-209 bit had about 20 extra seconds of the human>hamburger transition, and it just didn't seem like an All-Ages Attraction somehow, so I let it go...
  • 2012: 'It was just a few bad apples programming glitches'.
  • MonkeyFilter: An All-Ages Attraction
  • I'm not surprised, what self-respecting military doesn't like the idea of using robots? I mean, they've really gotten more field testing and funding since Afghanistan as pointed out here. And of course, the U.S. is especially interested in making that segue from human to robot battlefield involvement. Of course, I agree that in the meantime, robots will become integrated more into the unit.
  • Implant conscript brains in battle armour, then the robots can get PTSD!
  • Personally, I think we need more robots that can do this.
  • Just give them a four year life span.