Raytheon CGI rendition: As we initially reported here, we now have the ability to shoot down aircraft with high-powered lasers. The LaWS (Laser Weapon System) and Maritime Laser Weapon Systems are built onto the Phalanx target-tracking platform, but use lasers instead of bullets to take down targets. Raytheon’s Maritime Laser Weapon System was just [...]
Posted in DARPA, defense, flying, milestone, military / law enforcement, video, weapon 
Tags: anti-aircraft, laser, LaWS, Maritime Laser Weapon System, phalanx, r2-d2, Raytheon, uav 
No Comments »South Korea’s armed sentry robots which we discussed here and here have actually been deployed along South Korea’s border with the North. So far they are stationary only (as far as we know.) Once they are built onto mobile platforms, perhaps then people will begin to consider the ethical questions posed by the use of autonomous killing machines. (Yes, the [...]
Posted in AI, autonomous, defense, ethics, military / law enforcement, video, weapon Tags: Korea, sentry No Comments »“In mid-June, a single-turbine helicopter took off from a test field in Mesa, Arizona, avoided obstacles in-flight, scoped out a landing site and landed safely. It’s like the kind of flight choppers have made tens of thousands of times before. Except this time, the helicopter did it entirely on its own – with no humans [...]
Posted in autonomous, flying, milestone, video Tags: flight, helicopter, helo, milestone No Comments »Interesting and informative article about robots teaching humans. South Korea is employing hundreds of robots as teacher aides and classroom playmates. One concern that will resonate with readers of this website was voiced by Mitchel Resnick, head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who commented, “I worry that [...]
The chaps at Willow Garage have put together a safety film featuring their PR2 robot. They have a lot of firsthand experience and observations involved with what amounts to large, heavy, powerful, moving machinery around people. Very insightful, it will probably become required training for people working with or purchasing domestic robots. via [PlasticPals]
Posted in autonomous, domestic, education, milestone, roboticists, video Tags: pr2, safety, training, video, willow garage No Comments »On June 23rd, NASA and partner Armadillo Aerospace tested the new Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment (GENIE) for safely landing lunar spacecraft. It was hoped that it could “figure out the complex algorithms necessary to process volumes of data from the laser altimeter, GPS and inertial sensors, and quickly enough to steer the rocket engine [...]
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Posted in AI, roboticists, video Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, Bina48, conversation No Comments »A new method for UAVs to perch nearly anywhere and broadcast video or other data. via [dvice]
