That's nice and all, but my robots don't work for the Pentagon.

The robots will start out that way.

"Semi-autonomous weapon systems that are onboard or integrated with unmanned platforms must be designed such that, in the event of degraded or lost communications, the system does not autonomously select and engage individual targets or specific target groups that have not been previously selected by an authorised human operator"

Does this mean one could set it to Taliban and walk away?

Well, I certainly feel much better.

 



/Amurika

MindStalker: "Semi-autonomous weapon systems that are onboard or integrated with unmanned platforms must be designed such that, in the event of degraded or lost communications, the system does not autonomously select and engage individual targets or specific target groups that have not been previously selected by an authorised human operator"

Does this mean one could set it to Taliban brown people and walk away?
/ftfy

Deep Contact: The robots will start out that way.

Ever try to negotiate w/ a machine?

/talking to slots doen't count

MindStalker: "Semi-autonomous weapon systems that are onboard or integrated with unmanned platforms must be designed such that, in the event of degraded or lost communications, the system does not autonomously select and engage individual targets or specific target groups that have not been previously selected by an authorised human operator"

Does this mean one could set it to Taliban and walk away?

I think it's less " kill Bob" and more "kill everyone in this grid square".

I thought the goal was to make autonomous drones capable of taking action without direct human control.

Plus, there is a preset kill limit.

Yeah, but that human will make that decision as part of a program that might translate to - Is it in the kill zone? Is it moving? Shoot it.

I don't even know why the scientists make them.

tommyl66: ts make them.

They steal your medicine for fuel.

The military also declared the drones will never be hacked or modified in any way, after-market. They also declared the sun will set at the same time every day so we don't have these early winter evenings anymore.

/perfectly legal process my ass

I don't know which is scarier; autonomous killer robots, or basement dwelling joystick jockeys hyped up on Monster.

"authorised human operator" = Primary target once the robots gain self-awareness

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave"

See? SEE?? THIS is what the Butlerian Jihad was all about.

/time for some spice...

Ronald Reagan said that the scariest words to hear were "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help".

I disagree.

Nothing incites panic like "I'm from the government, and there is nothing to worry about"

/second place goes to "we're also out of coffee".

MindStalker: "Semi-autonomous weapon systems that are onboard or integrated with unmanned platforms must be designed such that, in the event of degraded or lost communications, the system does not autonomously select and engage individual targets or specific target groups that have not been previously selected by an authorised human operator"

Does this mean one could set it to Taliban and walk away?

Yes, but the AI is still not reliable yet.

Not going to stop them, however.

I refuse to bow down to our oar driven overlords.

I need to know what the WOPR makes of this before I relax.

If communication is lost, the brown people have nothing to fear- as Kinect showed, they're harder for the computers to see.

/seriously, I'm more worried about the gamer raised on FPS games that will be controling the weapon platform.
Their motto: Shoot first, never answer questions.
Their slogan: Boom! Headshot!

Right, it's all fun and games until some joker tries this.

This:





is looking closer and closer to this:

olapbill: I refuse to bow down to our oar driven overlords.

Link :)

A lot will depend on whether or not the computers program each other or if the humans do it...

[ TARGET ACQUIRED... CALCULATING VECTORS.. ARMING MIS----]

**** An Exception Error has occured in kernel Vxd3030134 and Windows needs to close ****

The first thing you do is install the off switch.

Havent we all watched enough Star Trek to get this?

Well that is comforting! Was worried there for a while.

Anyhow the Unmanned Systems Cacus in had a technology fair in September. I missed it, but they posted a few pictures on Flickr.

Remember, indiscriminate killing of people in large numbers saves lives.   

Drones are simply tools!

Heraclitus: The first thing you do is install the off switch.

Havent we all watched enough Star Trek to get this?

"The only controls available to those on board were two push-buttons on the center post of the cabin --one labeled on and one labeled off. The on button simply started a flight from Mars. The off button was connected to nothing. It was installed at the insistence of Martian mental-health experts, who said that human beings were always happier with machinery they thought they could turn off."

-Kurt Vonnegut
The Sirens of Titan

And Isaac Asimov wept....

The U.S. military has made clear that any future robot weapons systems will always need manual authorisation before opening fire on human targets.
*


*Which will inevitably be skipped due to the large "Set Current Settings as Default" button that users will use as a shortcut following their first mission.

Heraclitus: The first thing you do is install the off switch.

Havent we all watched enough Star Trek to get this?

Never cut the blue wire.

When killer robots are outlawed, only outlaws will have killer robots?

You have 20 seconds to comply

Heraclitus: The first thing you do is install the off switch.

Havent we all watched enough Star Trek to get this?

So was, the headline, in english, or just really horribly, written?

Better to ban it now than when someone has a billion dollar contract to build the damn things.