Police devices and technology coming to a city near you

[GRiM]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

US forces want man-hunting robot wolfpacks
Droid doorkickers to sniff out 'non-compliant humans'

Posted in Government, 24th October 2008 15:14 GMT

Trouser-moisteningly terrifying news broke this week, as it emerged that sinister forces within the US military are looking to develop a remorseless robotic wolfpack capable of hunting down "a non-cooperative human subject" in "an indoor environment".

Yes, it's true - last month, crazed Pentagon brainiacs asked contractors to develop a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System", to consist of:

A software and sensor package to enable a team of robots to search for and detect human presence in an indoor environment...

Operator control units are available that allow semi-autonomous map-based control of a team of robots ... There has also been significant research in the game theory community involving pursuit/evasion scenarios. This topic seeks to merge these research areas and develop a software/hardware suite that would enable a multi-robot team, together with a human operator, to search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject.

It will be necessary to determine an appropriate sensor suite that can reliably detect human presence and is suitable for implementation on small robotic platforms.

Typical robots for this type of activity are expected to weigh less than 100 Kg and the team would have three to five robots.

Not only will the skies of tomorrow be black with automated armadas of Reaper slay-planes, Fire Scout unmanned kill-choppers and possible crewless raygun cyber bombers; not only will thousands of years of human civilisation rapidly be reduced to smoking rubble; but even the option of cowering like a hunted beast in a cellar, sewer or tumbled monument has now been snatched away. Those hoping to survive for years after the machine uprising, subsisting on refuse and scuttling rat-like through the ruins until loneliness and horror finally bring merciful insanity and death, have been balked. Soulless squads of steel stormtrooper assassins will prowl the shattered cities of humanity like hunting velociraptor packs, sniffing out and snuffing the cowering remnant meatsacks, until a lifeless Pax Robotica rules the entire Earth unchallenged.

That's surely the view being taken by two of Britain's top technofear profs, asked to comment on the droid by renowned peacenik tech publication New Scientist.

SITIS Topic Details

Proposals Accepted:
Program: SBIR
Topic Num: A08-204 (Army)
Title: Multi-Robot Pursuit System
Research & Technical Areas: Ground/Sea Vehicles
Objective: Develop a software and sensor package to enable a team of robots to search for and detect human presence in an indoor environment.

Description: There are many research efforts within robotics in path planning, exploration, and mapping of indoor and outdoor environments. Operator control units are available that allow semi-autonomous map-based control of a team of robots. While the test environments are usually benign, they are slowly becoming longer and more complex. There has also been significant research in the game theory community involving pursuit/evasion scenarios. This topic seeks to merge these research areas and develop a software/hardware suit that would enable a multi-robot team, together with a human operator, to search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject. The main research task will involve determining the movements of the robot team through the environment to maximize the opportunity to find the subject, while minimizing the chances of missing the subject. If the operator is an active member of the search team, the software should minimize the chance that the operator may encounter the subject. As a simplification, the building layout could be given, although operating in an unknown environment with unknown obstacles is more realistic. The latter case should be studied at least in simulation. The software should maintain awareness of line-of-sight, as well as communication and sensor limits. It will be necessary to determine an appropriate sensor suite that can reliably detect human presence and is suitable for implementation on small robotic platforms. Additionally, the robot may not have the intelligence, sensing, or manipulative power to perform reconnaissance under full autonomy. For example, the robot may not be able to negotiate all obstacles, determine the course of action when confronted with difficult choices, or have sufficient team members to optimally search. Part of the research will involve determining what role the human operator will play in the search task. The system should flag the operator when assistance is required. Typical robots for this type of activity are expected to weigh less than 100 Kg and the team would have three to five robots.

Not creepy at all.....

 

[Tigersoap]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

I think we need Magnus the robot fighter !!

Remember this link as well : Bigdog

 

[rs]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

US forces want man-hunting robot wolfpacks
Droid doorkickers to sniff out 'non-compliant humans'

Posted in Government, 24th October 2008 15:14 GMT

Trouser-moisteningly terrifying news broke this week, as it emerged that sinister forces within the US military are looking to develop a remorseless robotic wolfpack capable of hunting down "a non-cooperative human subject" in "an indoor environment".

Not creepy at all.....

This reminds me of the scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise is recovering from "eyeball replacement" and robotic bugs are hunting him down.

This is seriously creepy...

 

[Beau]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

This reminds me of the scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise is recovering from "eyeball replacement" and robotic bugs are hunting him down.

Yeah, first thing I thought was science fiction is coming to life. Crazy times indeed.

 

[Mikey]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

A while ago there were articles about a non-lethal weapon named 'Incapacitator', a device which produces flashing light with LEDs. Those are the articles:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/137773-Flashlight-Weapon-Makes-Targets-Throw-Up
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/151695-Police-Military-roll-out-Weapons-of-Mass-Distraction

A Report about this weapon on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc1FOTKIXFY

When I first heard from this flashing LED device, I couldn't help thinking of the flashing LED backlights, which all newer cars nowadays have. I posted pictures about this new backlights year ago in this thread.

I cannot think of an obvious, substantial reason why car manufacturers would prefer PWM (pulse width modulation) brightness regulation over analog brightness regulation. Maybe there is more to flashing light? Lets see:

The LED Incapacitator (Light Emitting Diode) is a powerful weapon designed like a flashlight. It emits an extremely bright, rapid, and well-focused blue wave of 'differently-colored random pulses.' Before the human eyes can focus in on one frequency, another frequency comes on, causing intracranial pressure, which results in cluster headaches, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, irritability, and visual impairment to the target (opponent).

...

The manufacturer, Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS), has been awarded an $800,000.00 contract by the United States Department of Homeland Security's Small Business Innovation Research Office.

"There's one wavelength that gets everybody," says IOS President Bob Lieberman. "Vlad [IOS top scientist Vladimir Rubtsov] calls it 'the evil color'." Homeland Security hopes to give it to Border Patrol agents and National Guardsmen by 2010.

There has been a concern that LED applications could cause epileptic seizures, however, most people that are susceptible to seizures would react to flashing or strobing in the 15 to 20 CPS or Hz range only.

Maye each flashing frequency has different effects? What are the effects of the 130Hz flashing car backlights?

 

[Tigersoap]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

Bat Senses Could Help Mini-Drones in Urban Combat

As if fake cat brains and robotic pack mules weren't enough. Military-funded researchers are getting to show off detectors that could let tiny drones that sense their surroundings like bats.

The Pentagon's brains would like to see swarms of tiny drones zipping through urban canyons, looking for enemies. But to pull off such maneuvers, the machines are going to have to get better at figuring out their environment. Otherwise, they'll keep crashing into buildings and street signs. One project, funded by the Air Force, aims to help the drones out, by combining "bat-inspired echolocation for obstacle detection with a phenomenon called 'optic flow' for navigation," Graham Warwick reports.

The bat-senses will allow the mini-drone "detect and dodge obstacles like trees, poles and wires," he adds, in an Ares blog post. Then, the system will use the "optical flow" technique, which "allows a person to judge how close he is to certain objects" by whether those obstacles are expanding or receding in his vision, and by how much.

The drone tech gurus Aurora Flight Sciences have been working on this bat-like system for a few years. They just won another Air Force award to continue on with the work. Test flights should come by 2010.

_http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/drones-get-bat.html

EDIT :

There is the DARPA black Christmas list for 2009 (from an article dating from a few months already but I missed that)
here : _http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/darpa-2009-brai.html

 

[durabone]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

Microchips in the police & the troops:

_http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/uk-to-microchip-all-their-met-cops/
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eH95xjhXyQ
_http://noworldsystem.com/2007/08/15/police-given-bonuses-for-being-more-aggressive/
_http://www.davidicke.com/content/view/2900/32/

There's plenty of disinfo/info out there regarding a
microchip's ability to affect mood. Most profitably
for police in riot gear and troops on attack:

Enhancing Aggressive Behaviour


db

 

[durabone]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

A bionic police dog is not that far away

"Big Dog"

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

db

 

[Nienna]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

A bionic police dog is not that far away

"Big Dog"

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

db

Holy crapoly, that is just darn spooky.

Just put infra red camera's on it to find people and weapons on it and it could seek and destroy anyone those in control are looking for. No pesky conscience or feelings - the perfect toy for the psychopath.

 

[durabone]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

Amazing the way it recovers from slipping on ice

 

[JonnyRadar]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

A bionic police dog is not that far away

"Big Dog"

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

wait until they outfit it with weapons! imagine a pack of those things "controlling" a crowd... reminds me of "the second renaissance" from the animatrix series, when the humans went to war with the machines...

 

[anart]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

This has already been discussed here - http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8849.msg63373#msg63373 - the topics will be merged.

A bionic police dog is not that far away

"Big Dog"

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

db

 

[Third_Density_Resident]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

I don't quite know what it is, but watching the above video of "BigDog" leaves me feeling very unsettled. The incredible realism of that "dog" is just too darn spooky. I guess the thing that makes it all the more disturbing is the fact that it's funded by a defence organisation which means the designers only really have warfare in mind. I can just imagine the designers/inventors getting all excited with the potential this "dog" has on finding and destroying the enemy. Sometimes I wonder what kind of people participate in this sort of thing.

In any case, it makes me realise that many humans will never escape from the experiential cycle of violence because their whole world view is one of forever defending themselves and attacking the enemy, and taking steps to achieve these goals in a more "efficient" manner. There will never be an end to this -- there will always be a more advanced machine to control and dominate.

All of this makes me think that the more STS a person/group is, the more inclined they are to rely on and develop material technology to serve their ends. And the more STO a person/group is, it seems as if material technology is less important to them. Maybe it's because technology is largely developed to serve a group of individuals who will make money/gain power from this; whereas the STO-inclined usually seek simpler, alternative solutions to problems which are much cheaper (or free) and which therefore are less likely to result in any one person or group gaining power or fortune. In fact this kind of thing can often empower everyone thereby taking away power from the STS groups. One example of this dynamic which comes to mind are drug companies who market a good many drugs for countless problems, most of which have alternative, cheap solutions. The more people who are aware of the cheaper, safer, and less "technologically advanced" (though equally, if not more effective) solutions, the less money and power the drug companies have.

 

[Mountain Crown]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

This video freaks me out, and trying to understand why creeps me out even more. Maybe it drives home the reality of being a functioning, thinking machine. I don't know. I gotta have a smoke and think about this some more.

 

[Bo]

Re: Police devices and technology comming to a city nere you

and eventually they will move smoothly.. like this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAxi38FE8xo&feature=related