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And so it begins. The first iron men see action.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/08/httpwwwnational.html

When they finished the demo where they found the sniper, I kept waiting for it to say

Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.

As another noted, I was hoping they would start screaming "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

I think I saw this movie.

Wasn't Peter Wheller from the Robocop move, and Buckaroo Banzii in it?
He ended up finding out that the robots had a factory and they were improving themselves on thier own.

Another Movie I saw had the Governator in it. " Sarah Conner...come with me if you want to live."

Nah, it's the one where the robot gets hit by electricity and lives with some kids

"Number 5 is alive!!!"

It seems that this things sensors can be easily flummoxed, you could dazzle the standard camera with a laser pointer, or pop a can of fix-a-flat to totally blind it.

It may be good for checkpoint detail or sentry/sniper duty, but I doubt it would be any good in an urban combat situation where an enemy has no doubt booby trapped the area, and Johnny 5 can't step over tripwires, and blowing them up betrays your presence and position.

I'm not quite ready to welcome my robot overlords just yet.

No need for these at check points. That's what the GIs manning it are for.

OTOH, it would be excellent in MOUT. Better to send inanimate stuff through the door 1st.

It's likely that this would be operated in a similar fashion to the Raven UAV. A couple of teams are trained to be subject matter experts on the system and become dedicated operators. They conduct operations with their Battalion or are attached directly to companies and when the BC/ CO needs a bird's eye view they launch it.

I do not see these being operated outside of the individual units' area of operation the way predators are. The operators will likely be in just as much of the fight as their machines.

Here's an example:
Bad guys are holed up in a building and initiate a fire fight.
Lead elements (team or squad) suppress.
SWORD team moves into position and deploys system.
SWORD establishes foothold in the building for follow on forces or clears it.
Regardless, a squad is gonna go in and search/ clear it.

This is not an end all be all. It is simply a new tool to get the job done. No tool will ever completely replace boots on the ground.

As far as check points go. I didn't see the feature where it checks ID cards...

Obviously. SWORD shoots the man, grunts advance and check ID.

Better safe than sorry?

well its fine till some kid comes around witha RC car that just happens to run on the frequency. theres no hunk of tech that can replace a good warrior.

"wonder wepons i dont see the wonder.no heros, no villans, no glory" i think patton said some thing like this (may not be exact)

I'm sure the designers have the common sense to avoid commercial frequencies.



. . . as the cavalryman said to the rifleman.

Just wait for the thing to zoom by, sneak up behind it and tip it over.

That gun turret does not turn fast enough (or at all) to be of any use in a firefight. Entering buildings first, yeah I can see it. But there's a lot more work that needs to be done.

This would be the first armed military robot since the British bomb disposal robot.

From a hearts and minds perspective it is a nightmare. I can not imagine anything that would turn a populace against an occupier more swiftly than this. After the first child or bystander gets fragged by one of these 'things' every child will be throwing stones at all of them and every formerly neutral peasant and digging holes just for it to fall into.

don't sweat it. they probably only have BS2 anyway.

Too many people confusing 'robot' with 'autonomous robot'. This is one small step away from pointing and shooting a gun - it's just pointing and shooting a gun that is not attached to you.

Old news, folks. The video doesn't even work anymore.