Topic: Birth of the Assassin Droid

[Dracho]

This is sort of creepy, when you realize what they are trying to do..


LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Pentagon's research arm has reversed course and announced it will restore cash prizes to the top three finishers of a robot race set for next year.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency stripped the monetary prizes in October, saying it no longer had the power to dole out cash incentives under a defense spending law signed by President Bush. Instead, DARPA said the winners would receive shiny trophies.

In a statement released Friday, DARPA said the purse money was restored after it received approval from Kenneth Krieg, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Under the new rules, first place will receive $2 million, second place will get $1 million and third place $500,000. The amounts for second and third places were doubled from the original purse.

The competition, set for November 2007 in a yet-undisclosed location in the Western United States, is meant to spur development of military vehicles that could fight in war zones without remote control.

The robotic vehicles will have to navigate in under six hours a complex 60-mile test course designed like a real city street filled with moving manned and unmanned vehicles. Participants will be tested on how well they make sharp turns, navigate traffic circles and avoid obstacles such as utility poles, trees and parked cars.

DARPA had originally planned to award cash prizes to teams that advanced to the semifinals and finals, but that remains eliminated.

DARPA's inaugural robot race in 2004 was a bust when all the contestants failed to complete the $1 million course. Last year's winner-take-all race produced five vehicles that crossed the finish line, but only Stanford University won the $2 million check by zipping through a 132-mile course through a desolate part of the Mojave Desert in six hours and 53 minutes.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061211/D8LUPOH00.html

[Nemesis]

Darn!  I thought you had found Punishers origin story.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Why is it creepy? Building autonomus vehicles is a good thing. Keeping in mind, they aren't going to give the ability for the vehicle itself to fire any weapons. The defense and practical applications for this are almost limitless. Imagine autonomus supply vehicles that go from one point to another without the need for human drivers. This would reduce the risk to our soldiers who currently drive trucks on supply runs in Iraq.

[E_Look]

Who was it that reminded me?

Bolo
Keith Laumer

[Nemesis]

... and Saberhagens Berserkers.