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A technician died from injuries sustained while working on a robot at Volkswagen's factory in Kessel, Germany, according to media reports. The reports indicated that two men, who worked for an outside contractor, were installing the robot when the mechanism struck one of them in the chest and pressed him against a metal plate. The 21-year-old man, who was working within the metal safety cage confining the robot, later died from the accident. His co-worker was outside the metal cage and unharmed. Prosecutors are investigating the incident. Volkswagen officials said that the robot did not have a technical defect and...

Rogue droid 'was attempting to cross border' An American "Reaper" flying hunter-killer robot assassin rebelled against its human controllers above Afghanistan on Sunday, and a manned US fighter jet was forced to shoot the rogue machine down before it unilaterally invaded a neighbouring country. The Reaper, aka MQ-9 or Predator-B, is a large five-ton turboprop powered machine able to carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles - each capable of destroying a tank or flattening a building. It is used by the US and British forces above Afghanistan as a "persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets". According to USAFCENT Public Affairs: The...

The Cybot Age could soon be upon us. But be not afraid; this isn't Star Trek. We're not talking droves of evil cyborgs bent on galaxy domination. If all goes as planned, in just a few years colonies of software robots -- "cybots" -- linked into a "hive" mind could be defending the largest computer systems in America against network intruders.

June 19, 2008 -- IRobot, best known for their cute Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, has teamed up with Metal Storm, purveyors of the million-rounds-per-minute electric gun, to create a slick, Terminator-like war robot for the U.S. military. The as yet unnamed war bot is being marketed for "border patrol" and "crowd control" scenarios, although other military situations are also under consideration. "We want our soldiers to have the option of controlling a robot that could go ahead and investigate, engage or deter an enemy and not put human soldiers at risk," said a spokesman for Metal Storm who wished to...