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An RC car with a camera and a shotgun is not a robot any more than a toy you buy at Radio Shack or a hobby shop.
by dmooney1 16y ago
An RC car with a camera and a shotgun is not a robot any more than a toy you buy at Radio Shack or a hobby shop.
- sp332 16y agoI would call both of those things robots. Why would you say that they aren't?
- gaius 16y agoRobot implies a certain amount of autonomy, IMHO. First full robotic engagement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dart_missile#Gulf_War_.281991.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dart_missile#Gulf_War_.2819...
- camtarn 16y agoFrom what I can tell, the ground based bots don't have any onboard intelligence - they require an operator at a remote terminal at all times, more like telepresence than autonomous or even semi-autonomous robotics. In contrast, the UAVs presumably have the equivalent of an autopilot, and the X-47B referred to in the article appears to have a very good one. The equivalent ground-based robot would probably be something like a backpack scout that you could chuck into a building and have it autonomously map it.
- dmooney1 16y agoDefinitely the X-47B could be called a robot (or an autonomous, mobile robot if robot takes on the broader definition used by a few of the other commenters). I wonder how it reacts if it is engaged or damaged. Does try to self-preserve by evading or moving to a safe place without human interaction?
- jerf 16y agoI'd argue that the combat-relevant definition of robot is any machine that can perform some combat duty that, if blown up, will not injure or harm a human, only equipment. How simple the machine is doesn't matter, as long as it's out there and a human isn't, but up to this point not very many things have met this criterion.
- runjake 16y agoCertain craft flying autonomous patrols and are capable of rudimentary target acquisition, although they must ask permission from a human operator before firing. (And yeah, I'm in a position to know).