Posted on 04/28/2013 4:06:39 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Campaigners call for ban on "killer robots"
LONDON (Reuters) - Machines with the ability to attack targets without any human intervention must be banned before they are developed for use on the battlefield, campaigners against "killer robots" urged on Tuesday.
The weapons, which could be ready for use within the next 20 years, would breach a moral and ethical boundary that should never be crossed, said Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, of the "Campaign To Stop Killer Robots".
"If war is reduced to weapons attacking without human beings in control, it is going to be civilians who are going to bear the brunt of warfare," said Williams, who won the 1997 peace prize for her work on banning landmines.
Weapons such as remotely piloted drones are already used by some armed forces and companies are working on developing systems with a greater level of autonomy in flight and operation.
"We already have a certain amount of autonomy," said Noel Sharkey, professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield.
"I think we are already there. If you asked me to go and make an autonomous killer robot today, I could do it. I could have you one here in a few days," he told reporters.
But the technology is a long way off being able to distinguish between a soldier and a civilian.
"The idea of a robot being asked to exercise human judgment seems ridiculous to me," Sharkey told Reuters.
"The whole idea of robots in the battlefield muddies the waters of accountability from my perspective as a roboticist," he added.
NO INTENTION
The British government has always said it has no intention of developing such technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"Nooooo!!!! Don't render me obsolete!"
"Point me in the direction to the nearest unemployment office."
Ping
Except for....
We already have them.
They are called the MK 60 CAPTOR, an antishipping mine.
what are they droning on about
Mr. Gutsy...Can’t forget Mr. Gutsy
Damn this pansy zombie programming...
would be real easy to do with a couple of stepping motors and a 22 rifle. Put a bullet in anything that moves in the field of view, say one per second.
Go Ghouls!
Yay!
At least thats what you were programmed to say....
Simple.
Just target anything saying “Allahu Akbar”.
And his posse....
And last but not least...
How could I do that?!
Bad Kc_Lion Bad!
They will be added.
Eyebots too. And Tachikomas if you are an Anime/Ghost in the shell fan. Thinktanks FTW ;)
Well you are way behind the times, pal.
You need to check out the "shoot to kill", fully autonomous South Korean military robots patrolling the DMZ. ;-)
For the record, at a minimum I support fully autonomous fighter aircraft. The X-37B is a fully autonomous bomber, although in effect we've had those since the '80s in the form of the Tomahawk cruise missile...
"Killer robots" is a technology that already happened.
'But the technology is a long way off being able to distinguish between a soldier and a civilian.
"The idea of a robot being asked to exercise human judgment seems ridiculous to me," Sharkey told Reuters.
It doesn't need "human" judgement. It does need "judgement".
So, in the S. Korean robot example, if a potential hostile is detected, it is challenged, and a loudspeaker announces "Lie down on the ground and hold still or you'll be killed!" (I'm not sure if deaf infiltrators are accommodated somehow). If the subject lies down, a human is called to come and assess the situation. If not, the subject is perforated and then a human comes to assess the situation.
Seems pretty straightforward and reasonable to me. More humane than landmines anyhow. ;-)
Whoops, typo “X-47B”.
Another earlier proto type robot developed in South Korea ...
“South Korea Unveils Robotic Prison Guards, Promises Futuristic Cavity Searches”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2888874/posts
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