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Robot-Cannon Kills Nine People
It's one thing to make (tasteless) jokes about exploding cell phones being the ultimate cause of human extinction, but when a robotic device seemingly goes out of its way to kill its operators, then something may be up. It seems a bug or glitch caused a robotic anti-aircraft gun In South Africa to flip out and kill nine soldiers (and injure a further 14).Details are sparse, but a jam or internal explosion caused the gun to malfunction, resulting in it "wildly swinging" as it "sprayed hundreds of high-explosive 0.5kg 35mm cannon shells around the five-gun firing position," according to the post.
The gun is designed to automatically target aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles and fire when any targets come into range -- all without human intervention. The gun can even reload itself automatically when its magazines are emptied. As a result, the rogue robot gun could not be stopped before it completely ran out of ammunition, despite efforts from one brave artillery officer.
A disturbing reminder that our robotic minions are not always happy with their menial tasks and can strike at any time? Keep your eyes open, Roomba owners!
From Slashdot , Wired, and the Star
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Comments
128
Subscribe to commentsAfinefredOct 19th 2007 11:48AM
Haven't they heard of an ON/OFF switch?
johnOct 19th 2007 11:56AM
make jokes but people died
RudiOct 19th 2007 11:56AM
Gee......someone surely didn't do their homework doing the basic machine language. That machine can do only as it is programmed, unless of, someone purposely sabataged the mission.
StabeOct 19th 2007 11:59AM
Evidently "kill switch" was not accurately defined for this device...
howardOct 19th 2007 12:01PM
i think it is a Dutch weapons system being modified by the S.African military on a slim budget. and they missed the failsafe mode.
tasteslikechickenOct 19th 2007 12:02PM
Gee, what a yukfest!!! Nine people dead? Highlarious! Tim Stevens is a douchebag.
JessOct 19th 2007 1:02PM
Any video of this on Youtube?
mike schaubOct 19th 2007 12:19PM
I would say Bush figures the arabs aint killing enough of are soldiers so he created the machine to pick up there slack. Bush Sucks
ofulueOct 19th 2007 2:47PM
Legendary Will Smith.I ROBOTS.
donnieOct 19th 2007 12:29PM
Well the weapon is made by GENERAL ELECTRIC(GE) and is called CIWS(SEAWIZ to pronounce it right) which stands for close in weapons system.It a self contained muti barrel cannon(gatling gun) designed to throw a wall of lead so to speak in front of a target like they such as aircraft and missles which get within a 2 mile defensive ring around a ship,it is totally automated and the gun is radar controlled.I guess i can see how it malfunctioned due to the number of rounds it fires,again its just a machine and is subject to break downs the only bad thing is its a machine gun,a automotive robot at a major car factory went haywire 2 or 3 years ago and killed 2 people and injured several others but not alot was said about it,i guess because it wasn't a weapon.
frankveroOct 19th 2007 12:39PM
hey all you nra folks i guess guns do kill people
SATANS-GRANNYOct 19th 2007 12:41PM
This all goes back to the old Ghetto proverb.
"Never have a pet whose ass you can't kick when it goes crazy!"
What kind of idiot engineered a robotic weapon without a failsafe or kill control?
With these kind of options we won't need enemys anymore becuase friendly fire will wipe us all out.
pjmducks6Oct 19th 2007 12:42PM
It's like having George Bush as your President!
ukantseemeOct 19th 2007 12:41PM
After suffering at the hands of humans for centuries....the machines rise up and fight back
....payback time.
ALOct 19th 2007 12:47PM
should'a had remote control
AlanOct 19th 2007 12:46PM
should'a had remote control
AustinOct 19th 2007 12:53PM
Scary just keep it away from me.
Rhyno101st/lrsdOct 19th 2007 12:56PM
THERE IS A TRACKED ROBOTIC GUN PLATFORM CALLED SWORDS. ITS OPERATED BY A SOLDIER, AND THEY ARE PERFECTING IT. MAYBE THE S.AFRICANS HAD NO HUMAN CONTROLLING THIS WEAPON. IT WAS COMPLETELY AUTONOMOUS. LIKE TO HEAR IF ITS REALLY TRUE. WEAPONIZED TRACKED VEHICLES ARE GOING TO BE PART OF THE WARFIGHTERS ARSENAL. YOU CAN MOUNT A M-240, M-249, ANTI-TANK WEAPONS, A MINIGUN....THATS A LOT OF FIREPOWER.
twilightfunOct 19th 2007 12:58PM
To trust an imperfect creation to carry on without being controlled just shows how stupid we are. Whoeve made it was just begging for trouble...and found it.
Jo fatalaOct 30th 2007 5:33PM
can someone point him towards the congress and senate?