Title: Robots will rule the world.
bsu - January 19, 2006 02:53 AM (GMT)
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| Police, Army Robots to Debut in 5 Years By Kim Tegyu Staff Reporter By the 2010s, Korea is expecting to see robots assisting police and the military, patrolling the neighborhoods and going on recon missions on the battlefield. The Center for Intelligent Robots on Monday said the state-backed agency plans to check the feasibility of security robots by convening a 40-member planning committee late this week. ``If the robots prove to be viable technically and commercially, we will be able to begin developing them late next year,'' said Lee, head of the center. When completed, the outdoor security robots will be able to make their night watch rounds and even chase criminals, according to Lee. The government also seeks to build combat robots. They will take the shape of a dog or a horse, with six or eight legs or wheels. Toward that end, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Defense Ministry will combine to channel a total of 33.4 billion won ($33.9 million) through 2011. ``The robots will be directed by a remote control system or move autonomously via their own artificial intelligence systems,'' MIC project manager Oh Sang-rok said. ``The two sophisticated robots will be empowered by the country's state-of-the-art mobile network, thus enabling mass production at an affordable price,'' Oh noted. Smart robots need three basic functions of sensing, processing and action. Thus far, robotics researchers have tried to cram the three into a single dummy, causing expenses to soar. Instead, the planned robots will be receiving most sensing and processing capabilities via a Web connection. Only the ability of movement will be located in the robot. "In a nutshell, the mobile robot offers a hardware platform for the smart functions provided by the country's advanced network connected to the super computers,'' Oh said. Korea boasts the world's highest penetration of high-speed Internet with roughly 12 million out of total 15.5 million households hooked up to the always-on connection. On top of their use in national defense and social security, the MIC hopes to use the network robots for the private sector late this year. "Three kinds of households machines will commercially debut this October. They will sell for 1-2 million won, a price that will not scare off customers. The low price is possible since they are empowered by outside networks instead of incorporated software,'' Oh said. The three sorts of wheeled robots will be used for various applications: cleaning rooms, health-care programs, Internet connection, home monitoring or reading books to kids. The mechanical servants, some of which have the ability to re-charge automatically, can also order Chinese food and pizza by connecting to the local network. The MIC already finished a test run of the household robots late last year by installing them in 64 households and two post offices in Seoul and its vicinity. Hyung Tae-gun, director general at the MIC, expected the robots will sell up to 3,000 units for this year alone and the sales will surge in the near future. "Recently Japan unveiled household service robots priced at up to 10 million won, almost 10 times as expensive as ours. So you can guess the competitiveness of our network robots,'' Hyung said. |
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| http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2336/al...f8b0ddc2f7b.jpg It looks like an armored car but moves about freely without a driver, nimbly dodging obstacles in its path. At 3.1 m long and 1.5 m high -- about an adult’s neck height -- it weighs 1.2 tons. It is equipped with a 5.56 mm gun, but no matter how many shots hostile troops may fire at it, there will be no bloodshed on the Korean side. An operator can control the vehicle from 1 km in the rear and access all the onboard equipment like the craft’s GPS system, reconnaissance camera and laser scanner by computer. The vehicle, known as the XAV (Experimental Autonomous Vehicle), may seem a first step in what to many may seem a sci-fi scenario of robotic creatures stalking one another across the battlefield. But the Army and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) are seriously planning the introduction of a range of robotic weaponry from 2010-2015. At the Army corps and division levels, cutting-edge unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that provide wide-range views of the battlefield are expected to be deployed soon. UAVs are able to spot minute movement 100 km away from the target. Domestically produced ones have already been in operation since 1999, but, according to the Defense Ministry, much more advanced high and medium altitude UAV systems will come next year. On land, the "dog/horse" military robot will stalk its way into enemy positions. To be developed jointly by the Defense Ministry and Ministry of Information and Communication with a W33.4 billion budget (US$33.4 million) by 2011, it will be fitted with either wheels or six legs to negotiate stairs, slopes and other uneven terrain. From there, things move into territory more familiar from “Star Wars.” A concept sketch from the ADD features two combat robots: a multi-purpose reconnaissance robot and a proximity reconnaissance machine. They will be gathering information in street battles, which are particularly casualty-intensive. Once they are developed, it is time for light combat robots, which take the information from proximity reconnaissance robots and then stride into battle. The ADD is also promoting a plan to develop unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) after 2020. These drones can engage in bombing attacks or air battles. The U.S is testing two UCAV models named X-45 and X-49. Unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV), meanwhile, will be pursuing enemy submarines or removing mines in the sea. Experts hail combat robots as economical weapons that can carry out military operations in dangerous battlefields without causing casualties. The ADD said development of the various robot weapons would cost W800-900 billion by 2018, and by that time, Korea will have emerged as one of the world’s three big robot technology powers.  Equipped with six or eight wheels or legs, they would be capable of walking or running through rough terrain. Armed with weapons and sensors, the robots could be put to combat missions or dangerous tasks such as detecting mines, the ministries said. The ministries said they will also invest some 30 million dollars to develop surveillance sensor networks by 2010. |
Queen Helena - January 20, 2006 09:23 AM (GMT)
I can just see the Terminator happening for real in 20 years :rofl:
Dan - January 20, 2006 09:45 PM (GMT)
HA! That would be great! Il be John Conner! :rock:
DrkRwShinobi - January 20, 2006 10:11 PM (GMT)
wow that b awesome...i want one that can make me XBOX 360 games!
kenshin42 - January 21, 2006 12:10 AM (GMT)
these robots, they are cool, but if i can have one of them i'll choose one like the paaman's robot, so i touch the nose and he works for me!!! :rofl:
P.S: anyone remmember Paaman?
P.S: anyone remmember Paaman?
I Love Ein - January 21, 2006 02:23 AM (GMT)
Thats amazing...flattering, and creepy.