May 12 2008No, Seriously, I Really Mean It This Time, I Promise: The Robots Are Coming, Run!
Ha, and you thought our robotic overlords would only come in the form of giant blade wielding mothers didn't you? Well think again. How would you like to have that little guy climbing up your leg? You wouldn't would you? I didn't think so -- but too bad. BAE (which undoubtedly stands for Bot Apocalypse Engineering) Systems has released a promo video of the robotic insects they've been developing for the U.S. Army as part of a $38 million contract. There are spider-bots, dragonfly-bots, and other kill-you-in-your-sleep-bots featured, and each one scares the everliving hell out of me.
The robots will slither and crawl around corners, into caves, and through booby-trapped streets, sending images back to screens in a command center or to a screen mounted on a soldiers wrist. The purpose is to "extend the warfighter's senses and reach, providing operational capabilities that would otherwise be costly, impossible, or deadly to achieve," says Joseph Mait, MAST cooperative agreement manager for the Army Research Laboratory.
Well that's wonderful and all, but what happens when I find one of these guys at the foot of my bed in the middle of the night? I'll tell you what happens -- I soil a $1,800 Tempur-Pedic mattress. And then what? And then sob into a pillow and beg my wife to smash the thing with a slipper.
The video (which looks a lot like a crappy video game) after the jump.
Robot Spiders, Dragonflies, Snakes to Aid Soldiers in War Zones [switched]
Thanks Rich, I like sleeping with the light on anyways
Reader Comments
1. boredom - May 12, 2008 1:57 PM
Ok I'm gonna be with writer man here and say it's getting a little rediculous and the robots might be coming to take over the world. Let's start raping, pillagin, and plundering now before this happens and it's too late. Or instead of rape who's up for the end of the world mass orgy?
2. SmokingGirl - May 12, 2008 2:07 PM
*head desk* And they say women are irrational...
3. Smartass - May 12, 2008 2:09 PM
I love 'oh crap they want us to show them something' videos like this...
err... we can't actually get it to work
But if we could, this is what it would look like.
cool eh?
4. jumpin_j - May 12, 2008 2:12 PM
$1600 for a Temurpedic? Damn I paid too much. Oh, and we're all gonna die. Crap. :-(
5. Daniel - May 12, 2008 2:14 PM
That video was just ridiculous
6. Julian - May 12, 2008 2:25 PM
It reminds me of the thing from Minority Report. The video is hilarious. They're doing all this stealthy crap and sending in mini robot insect things to inspect the place then they blow the shit out of it with a missile. Go team subtlety!!
IMO those little spiders should be 20 times bigger and have poison fangs and have acid webbing for melting peoples faces. Hya! take that terrorist, that'll teach you to damn kids to get off my lawn! *mounts betsy the robo-spider* To the Mall!! yah!
7. Jason - May 12, 2008 2:33 PM
Do those spiders come with mini turrets? Because if so, I want some. Okay maybe just like two. No three.
8. Scott - May 12, 2008 2:37 PM
I say go all the way and put realistic exterior skins on them. So when they do crawl into a room the terrorist will jump up on chairs and make yuck sounds. Then we'll know how tough they really are!
Oh, and I'm up for that orgy thing by the way! Just sayin is all.....
9. boredom - May 12, 2008 2:56 PM
@Scott, it seems to be off to a slow start and I'm sorry but I'm going to let the robots take and kill me if it's just you and I, nothing personal.
10. James - May 12, 2008 3:04 PM
In the future of warfare, killing two guys with AK-47s will only take a couple hundred thousand dollars' worth of spider bots (which were probably blown up in that demo), fuel, maintenance, training, and other miscellaneous costs for the helicopter gunship, and a hellfire missile capable of taking out the whole damn building. Looks efficient and cost-effective to me!
11. stepherz - May 12, 2008 9:15 PM
wow that scares the crap out of me & kind've reminds me of minority report .
12. Loki - May 13, 2008 1:33 AM
Two things come to mind,
One, Runaway starring Tom Selleck, and two, the replicators on Stargate SG-1.
13. Cyberwulf - May 13, 2008 2:44 AM
holy crap they've finally done it. They have inspired me to actually complete construction of my zap gun, and start working on a freaking EMF for my bedroom.
14. Tap - May 13, 2008 8:40 AM
This is what the Braun robot from "Neuromancer" might look like.