Carnegie Mellon Gets $14.4M to Build Robo-Tank

coondoggie passed us a NetworkWorld article, this one discussing new developments in the state of robotic warfare. Carnegie Melon is now hard at work on a tank set to join its brother, the already much-discussed Unmanned Areal Vehicle, on the modern battlefield "Ultimately unmanned ground vehicles would be outfitted with anti-tank or anti-aircraft missiles and anti-personnel weapons to make them lethal. Part of the new award budget is also slated to help the university prove that autonomous ground vehicles are feasible in future combat situations."

Re:Is this what is called pork ?

[Feminist-Mom]

Depends on your definition. This is a DARPA contract, which is awarded based on if some guy likes you. If they suddenly don't like you, they pull the plug. But mostly this is pretty much a buddy network of people who have known each other for years, and they don't do that, except in cases of blatant incompetence (they took away Rodney Brooks money once I believe). I worked on a stair climbing robot project, which was pretty much a farce in every way. I'd really like to see a follow up article in 2-3 years to see what they actually built, or did the money just make some robot professors wallets fatter.

Re:This Won't Work

[PaintyThePirate]

CMU got the $14 million because the Robotics Institute already has an autonomous tank, Crusher [cmu.edu]. The money was given specifically to create an updated version of it.

Re:Secondary effects

[The One and Only]

(Now that I think about it, roadside IEDs are kind of like unmanned suicide bombers, turning the tables...)

That's actually quite backwards. Most people plant unmanned explosives. Suicide bombers are (as an exception) manned bombs--likewise, kamikazes are manned cruise missiles, devised by the Japanese when they couldn't develop a guidance system.

Re:Why don't we have these already?

[joib]

Such as the Talon [news.com]?

Re:Ethical problems: continuous easy war

[maxume]

We are in the midst of it.

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html [edge.org]

(and all technology has nefarious applications)