Science fiction and action movies love to use robotic soldiers in their scripts. Whether it is Terminator or Star Wars, people love to see it on the screen. I don't know how popular it is going to be in real life though. iRobot is teaming up with Taser International Inc. to sell robots that can zap people for the Pentagon and police departments in the very near future. I kid you not.
From The Huffington Post:
BOSTON — RoboCops and robot soldiers got a little closer to reality Thursday as a maker of floor-cleaning automatons teamed up with a stun-gun manufacturer to arm track-wheeled 'bots for the police and the Pentagon.
By adding Tasers to robots it already makes for the military, iRobot Corp. says it hopes to give soldiers and law enforcement a defensive, non-lethal tool.
But some observers fear such developments could ultimately lead to robots capable of deciding on their own when to shoot and kill.
"It's one more step in that direction," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based military research organization.
Thats right, the little harmless robot that cleans your floor is going to have a cousin that can stun you with 10,000 volts. The makers of Roomba claim that this venture is not intended for robots to have lethal force, but they can't deny this is a step in that direction. Tasers can kill people with heart conditions or under the influence already, so technically it can have lethal force with some victims. Hasta la vista baby to them.
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