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Less-than-lethal robots?

Skeptic Bob

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So the use of the bomb wielding robot in Dallas was interesting. I don't fault the police for doing it. They were thinking out of the box in a very dangerous situation with a cop killer that had nothing to lose.

That said, I don't feel comfortable with making man-killing robots a regular part of the police arsenal.

But what about less-than-lethal robots? Robots armed with any number of devices to help incapacitate an armed person. Pepper spray, tasers, nets, or whatever. You think a police dog scares the bad guys? Wait until they see something bullet-proof out of Robot Wars coming for them.

Seriously. If the cops in Dallas rigged that up on the fly, imagine what engineers could put together.
 
So the use of the bomb wielding robot in Dallas was interesting. I don't fault the police for doing it. They were thinking out of the box in a very dangerous situation with a cop killer that had nothing to lose.

That said, I don't feel comfortable with making man-killing robots a regular part of the police arsenal.

But what about less-than-lethal robots? Robots armed with any number of devices to help incapacitate an armed person. Pepper spray, tasers, nets, or whatever. You think a police dog scares the bad guys? Wait until they see something bullet-proof out of Robot Wars coming for them.

Seriously. If the cops in Dallas rigged that up on the fly, imagine what engineers could put together.
I expressed a similar sentiment in another thread just a few minutes ago. I like your idea of "less than lethal". But I am not opposed to a machine that could escalate to lethal force, if necessary.

The fact that they neutralized the threat, and there was no collateral damage, kinda demonstrates the positive potential for this tactic. I would like to see robots developed specifically for this purpose.
 
Crazy Alice-in-Wonderland times we live in.

Is China's Space Junk Collector a Weapon in Disguise?

Chinese_space_cannon.jpg


A worthwhile task, but potentially an impractical one. A researcher at Beijing's National Astronomical Observatories is quoted by the as saying, "It is unrealistic to remove all space debris with robots. There are hundreds of millions of pieces drifting out there."

An alternative explanation is that the Roaming Dragon could be very useful in a conflict with other high tech nations. The armed forces of countries such as the United States and Japan are highly reliant on satellites for early warning, communications, navigation and intelligence-gathering purposes. A satellite capable of intercepting space junk could do the same thing to a vital military communications satellite, sending it into crashing back to Earth.

In 2007, China's test of an anti-satellite weapon resulted in the destruction of a defunct satellite and the distribution of thousands of pieces of potentially dangerous debris into low-Earth orbit. China was roundly condemned by the international space community for the incident. A stealthier approach would make sense.


 
Oooooh, we get to step into Psycho-Pass territory here.
 
So the use of the bomb wielding robot in Dallas was interesting. I don't fault the police for doing it. They were thinking out of the box in a very dangerous situation with a cop killer that had nothing to lose.

That said, I don't feel comfortable with making man-killing robots a regular part of the police arsenal.

But what about less-than-lethal robots? Robots armed with any number of devices to help incapacitate an armed person. Pepper spray, tasers, nets, or whatever. You think a police dog scares the bad guys? Wait until they see something bullet-proof out of Robot Wars coming for them.

Seriously. If the cops in Dallas rigged that up on the fly, imagine what engineers could put together.

There's no real difference between that "robot" and a gun.
If they had just shot him, would anyone be questioning the ethics?
He'd still be dead, it's just that someone would of had to put their body closer to his, putting themselves in greater danger.

I see no ethical qualms about killing the alleged perp with a bombot, anymore than with a standard gun.
 
So the use of the bomb wielding robot in Dallas was interesting. I don't fault the police for doing it. They were thinking out of the box in a very dangerous situation with a cop killer that had nothing to lose.

That said, I don't feel comfortable with making man-killing robots a regular part of the police arsenal.

But what about less-than-lethal robots? Robots armed with any number of devices to help incapacitate an armed person. Pepper spray, tasers, nets, or whatever. You think a police dog scares the bad guys? Wait until they see something bullet-proof out of Robot Wars coming for them.

Seriously. If the cops in Dallas rigged that up on the fly, imagine what engineers could put together.

The engineers already had it in place, just maybe not by their original intentions.

It served it's purpose in this situation as far as I am concerned.

I definitely understand your concern about some overzealous officials using it ad hoc.
 
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