Fire in the Hole!

Today was a tiring day, mostly cos I slept late last night (~3am) and woke up early this morning (~7am). Plus, I spent the whole day out, half of which was spent on a failed expedition to see the tree-top bridge at Macritchie reservior. Heaven wasn't exactly on our side. Why? Cos it rained when we started our trek into the jungle, and stopped when we decided to abandon our quest. Haha. I guess we weren't fated to see the treetop bridge, but it was an adventure nonetheless...

Anyway, robotics have always been a pet interest of mine and so today I'll be posting about a robot. Its not one of those Sony dancing robots but a defence robot, and a gun totting one at that. In fact, this one carries a mobile grenade launcher (WhooHooo! Gimme its remote control!). Basically, its nothing new. Its nothing like the Terminator robots, but just a tracked "buggy" with a gun mounted on top. In fact an earlier version that carries a machine gun has been deployed in Iraq already. However, what's so special is its targetting and the accuracy of its shots, plus the fact that its more "expendable" than a human being.

Well, I hope that one day soon, wars could be fought using robots controlled by humans far away, so that less lives would be lost. Of course having no wars would be the best, but I guess that's too big a step for most of humankind to take right now...

Those of you who found the idea of gun-toting robots a little creepy should probably click away right now. Because the Army has just finished testing out a unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, that obliterates its foes with electrically-fired grenades.

The robot is the same modified Talon UGV that's now on its way to Iraq, to watch the back of Stryker armored vehicles on patrol. But instead of carrying a M249 machine gun, like the Iraq-bound robo-grunt, this Talon has been armed by Metal Storm Limited -- the Australian firm famous for its million-round-a-minute gun.

Click here for the full article.