In the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California, at the 4Site conference, our favorite robot vacuum/military supplier, iRobot showed off a tactical mobile robot, the PackBot! The robot has its own brochure and site: www.packbot.com. The rad thing about this platform is its vehicle "skateboard" design, which it appears to support various plug-in modules.
They also showed a 10-minute trailer for the new movie I, Robot starring Will Smith. Apparently the company has some relationship with filmmakers—we don't know if it's in name only, or if they consulted for the film.
One thing we kinda worry about: on the site it says, "The Robot should go in first", a quote from an Airborne Division Commander. While that's okay for now, what about when these robots have feelings? Haven't we learned *anything* from sci-fi movies? First we make the bots, then we arm the bots, then they turn on us and take over. C'mon, this is textbook stuff here.
Click here for some photos!
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