examinator,

I understand where you're coming from but I think you're underestimating computer tech on the battlescape. Yeah, "Terminators" aren't even on the horizon and people like Steven see "Robot" and that's all they think.

Autonomous weapons are something that will never happen in the traditional way of thinking but things like drone attack aircraft are functioning - (as you know I'm sure) - and also the QF4 Target Drones are being 'slaved' in an attempt to create fighter drones.

Check out the 'Big Dog Pack Horse' on YouTube. Comms and weapons development is storming ahead and with the advent of drone and digital tech there's aerial views of the battlescape networked between squads and senior command. On and on it goes.

As for Israel. "Palestine" only exists because it gives them somewhere to house the terrorists. What better to have walls than having them roaming free with your territory?.

StG

Just to set the record straight.

The combat robots I have in mind are NOT "terminators" with or without "positronic brains".

(Note to examinator: There never will be a "positronic brain". That just a bit of sf techno-babble. Nor alas will there be hyper-atomic motors capable of taking us to the stars)

I'm thinking more of a small extrapolation of the sorts of vehicles used in the DARPA Urban Challenge. If you want to watch a really cool video see below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xibwwNVLgg

I can envisage such vehicles operating mainly autonomously but with human intervention in a combat situation. More or less like the current generation of combat UAVs such as the predator and reaper.

An actual combat robot currently in use in Iraq is the Foster-Miller TALON. See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yliThCy3RxY

Don't know if the TALON is actually shooting at people yet.

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read on the subject of combat robots is "Wired for War" by PW Singer. See:

http://www.amazon.com/Wired-War-Robotics-Revolution-Conflict/dp/1594201986

It's a must read for anyone seriously interested in the future of war. I strongly recommend it examinator.

StG

I seriously question Australia's need for the F-35 Lightning II. I would say that by 2025 the balance will have swung in favour of swarms of unmanned aircraft perhaps controlled from a futuristic AWACS "mother ship".

Apologies, I posted the wrong link.

See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lULl63ERek0

As you can see back in 2007 the technology was still quite clumsy. It still is today. But it's a quantum leap ahead of what was possible five years perviously.

Robots today are probably where PCs were in 1990

The problem with autonomous combat robot stuff is being able to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys.

Same as your TALON weapon thing. Might be alright for remote controlled sentry stuff but anyone with a club approaching from the side could disable that.

Here's a video I posted on YouTube about Metal Storm. Even with tech that - IMO - was VERY practical from a "robotic" sense they still have gone under. Things like area denial and actual 'smart' weapons are close at hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8nI_wpDk-s

That's the future of robotics. "2010" is so much ingrained in the social conscience that autonomous robot tech won't go past a car, let alone giving it a gun.

StG

I'm glad we've moved away from "Terminator". That was never what I had in mind.

You're thinking single robots – a lone TALON

I'm thinking swarms or networks. Maybe 50 – 100 advanced TALON's and a few UAV's overhead with advanced sensors. The single man with the club is detected and shot well in advance.

Telling the good guys from the bad guys is, as you say the problem. My guess is that a lot of civilians will die. That's already happening. In many cases – eg the attempted Christmas airliner bombing – civilians ARE the target. C'est la guerre.

One possibility is that approved "friendlies" would be equipped with RFIDs that the combat robots would recognise. It would be a sort of IFF (Identification – friend or foe) system.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identification_friend_or_foe

NB: I am NOT saying the technology is there yet. I'm saying we're headed in that direction. Combat robots will truly come into their own when swarms of them can be networked.

In the mean time, though, they are proving their worth with reconnaissance, bomb disposal and targeted killings.

In the civilian sphere, existing facial recognition software is primitive. Better systems are possible but require more computing power. I would say that within 5 years commercially available facial recognition software will outperform humans.

Another strategy is "gait analysis" – analysing the way people walk. Software that identifies people from their gait will soon be commercially available.

See eg:

http://www.chikatsu-lab.g.dendai.ac.jp/wgv4/presentation/04_03Anai.pdf

We are heading for a world in which the authorities can automate the control of our lives. Such power will be misused. It always is.

The more people you have in any given community the more controls and rules have to apply. Whether it is in a simple class size or the size of a city or country. It's a bit like traffic. The more cars, buses and trucks on the road the more traffic lights, roundabouts, parking restrictions, double white lines, stop signals there have to be. That's one reason people like living in the country, there is more freedom and less rules and regulation. Get used to it. As populations expand there will be more of them. It is beyond belief that nearly every town, city and country in the world is committed to expansion in a finite world. I feel that nature will eventually take its course, whether by Global climate change, food scarcity, war or disease, we will reap the error of our ways, but at least me might reduce a few regulations.