Nano-Biotechnology

Robots Equipped with Tasers Could Become Reality Sooner Than You Think

Smaller versions of RoboCop

By Lucian Dorneanu, Science Editor

2nd of July 2007, 10:32 GMT

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The military R-Gator is designed to serve numerous important roles, acting as unmanned scout,

Robots have been part of human imagination for longer than you think. Though the modern science-fiction literary genre has made them so famous that they've become universal brands, like "Robocop", "Terminator", "Data",

"R2-D2" or "iRobot", they have been present in mythology long before.

Now, a company that builds floor-cleaning robots started a collaboration with a Taser manufacturer to equip a new generation of robots with stunt guns, which could be used by the Pentagon and police forces in the US.

IRobot is a company based in Burlington, Massachusetts, that will soon start delivering these applications to the military and law enforcement agencies. They will be non-lethal and defensive in nature and they will assist human officers and hopefully even save their lives.

The Taser is an electroshock weapon, an incapacitant used for subduing a person by administering electric shock that may disrupt superficial muscle functions.

Supporters say that electroshock guns are a safer alternative to devices such as firearms. Taser uses the term "non-lethal" as defined by the US Department of Defense - which does not mean the weapon cannot cause death, but that it is not intended to be fatal.

"It is not the first step in that direction, but I think at some point toward the end of the next decade, you're going to start seeing RoboCops or a Terminator," Pike said. "We may see autonomous robots capable of inflicting lethal force."

Jim Rymarcsuk, vice president for business development at IRobot, said that there is absolutely no chance that one or more of these armed robots could go haywire, since they will not be taking decisions by themselves.

"Right now, we have no plans to take any robot with a lethal-weapon approach to the market," Rymarcsuk said. "For this system, and all systems we have looked at, there is a human in the loop making the decisions. This in no way is giving the robot the capability to use force on its own."

TAGS:

robot | taser | firearms | weapons

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