US Navy tests robotic fire-fighters

[Still Waters]

Fire-fighting robots designed to withstand intense heat are to be tested by the US Navy this summer.

The Shipboard Autonomous Fire-fighting Robot (SAFFiR) has been built by engineers at Virginia Tech and other US universities.

The robots are expected to perform a variety of tasks - balancing, turning valves, picking up and dragging a fire hose and jetting water on the fire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-26850631

[paperdyer]

From the article:

"It makes you think: Why bother with mechanical robots when you can engineer fake human replicants to fight your battles?" asked Meghan Neal. a journalist at Motherboard - a website dedicated to future technologies.

Doesn't the term replicant imply fake? These would be androids. They would need and A-I to function properly. One trhing I noticed is this article didn't say if the new robots are programmed to operate independently or with a human running the controls. If they are running themselves I think we are already at the "fake human replicant" stage.

Edited April 2, 2014 by paperdyer

[lightly]

A robotic remote controlled fire fighter sounds like a pretty good idea.. to save the lives of human fire fighters

But this part of the article .. is sort of frightening. ..not to mention EXPENSIVE. (and insane I think.)

Synthetic soldiers

Robots are increasingly finding their way into the military. The Pentagon's Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has a range of battlefield robots and is also working on ways to enhance soldiers' abilities with exoskeletons and uniforms made of smart materials.

This week it announced a new unit devoted to researching the intersection between biology and engineering.

It will look at creating man-made super-materials, renewable fuels and solar cells.

But it has led some commentators to ask if, longer term, the military will also try to create artificial life.

Edited April 2, 2014 by lightly

[+DieChecker]

I always wonder why they build these robots as humanoid. Why not a quadruped? It would be more stable and require less sophistocated gismos to balance. As long as it can get down the hallways and through the hatches I don't see why it needs to be a humanoid.....

[highdesert50]

I would be interested is just how autonomous these robots are when working in conjunction with human firefighters simply because firefighters work in teams, where consistent joint training assures a high level of success without injury. Even hauling a hose into a burning structure is typically done as a joint venture with one person making decisions as to where and how best to direct the delivery of water/foam and the other serving as a safety spotter and facilitating the movement of the hose. There are many extenuating situations that human firefighters train that I would find extremely difficult for a robot. For example, highly systematic team searches, in blackout conditions with extensive debris, where feeling for physical contact with a victim in the midst of debris becomes essential -- requires enormous dexterity and subtle motor and sensory cues.

[Skep B]

....Stupid ****ing people.

Giving A.I. to soldier bots?

we all know how this is going to go.

Theres literally no other way this ends.