14 DAY TRIAL // Since DARPA competition proved the robots supremacy when it comes to mixing gadgetry with pleasure, it's time to see how robots can actually fight back against illegal stuff.
Because of so many crimes happen on the open sea, the US Navy will send a lot of robot boats out there in the open sea with the main mission of hunting down the high tech pirates on the high speed seas. The measure follows the ones that have already been implemented by Israel and Singapore.
The robots' supremacy has already proven its efficiency in the military field, and this is basically almost the same thing. As popularmechanics reports, piracy has exploded in the waters near Somalia. On the same grounds, the US warships have fired on two pirate skiffs. The same ships are currently in search of a Japanese-owned vessel. Therefore, at least some other four ships are said to remain under strict surveillance against pirate control. The major problem of all is the fact that the crisis seems to amplify worldwide, as shown in the numerous cases of pirate attacks each year.
As you're probably wondering how a modern pirate profile looks like, you should know they still enjoy to collect stuff. The only major difference is in their newest passion for communication gear. And their crimes are about the same proportion with the ones in the Ancient times, as it was reported that hijackers killed one crew member of a Taiwan-owned vessel each month until their specific demands were met.
So, because of the high risks involved, the robotic boats seem to have been the best proposal ever. Besides robots, the US navy is said to use unmanned surface vessels, known as USVs. Not to mention there are some other ships that have the mission to guard the vessels and defend the harbors.
As it was expected, there is a whole industry to support the measure, and BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and RAFAEL Israel Defense are probably the heaviest names in the branch, after they managed to develop the Protector, a 30 ft long USV.
The giant anti-pirate tech monster comes equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun, which was built to serve other purposes, but filled another job descriptions quite fast. BAE Systems spokesperson Stephanie Moncada told popularmechanics how easily the robot could fill that role: "Down the line, it could potentially be modified for commercial use as well."
There is also another version of the bot, a non-lethal variant of the Protector, which could be used to simply investigate a potential threat after being deployed by a warship to intercept and possibly fire on an incoming vessel.
And besides the Protector, there is also the cold-blooded Interceptor, which is said to become the long-range boat of the future. The 21 ft long Interceptor can travel at up to 55mph and it was designed to be both piloted and remotely deployed. I just hope none of these high tech beast get in the hands of some evil mind.
It just makes you wonder if this could this be the beginning of the Robots supremacy against terrorism...
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