The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.
Military school Commandant’s graduation address, "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"

South Korea now has machinegun-equipped robot sentries, which it hopes to deploy along the 155mi long demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. The robots were developed by four institutions including Korea University and Samsung Techwin Co. over the past three years at the price of some $10 million in government and private funds. Each sentry runs about $200,000, and the developers hope to sell at least a thousand when they are put on the market next year. The "Intelligent Surveillance and Guard Robot" has visual and infra-red detection, can spot moving objects at up to 2.5mi by day, 1.2mi by night, and can use pattern recognition to tell apart humans, cars, trees, etc. Moreover, it has a voice recognition system, can raise alarms, as well as provide suppressive fire from its mounted machinegun. But, it seems it cannot move. Modified, the sentry could be used to guard civilian installations (airports, power stations, oil pipelines). Maybe this will even things out a bit for South Korea’s military of 650,000 versus North Korea’s 1.2 million.

The sentry can be controlled remotely, you can even see the interface in the commercial, which entails that it can be hijacked remotely. It is also a frightening weapon in that it allows for killing with the least psychological resistance (see Evolution of Weaponry). But similar technology has been around for a while, there are even companies that market it. WiSnipe, a portmanteau or blend of Wireless and Sniping, makes an Internet Gun Device that can be fired from across the world via the web or by cel phone. Like the Korean sentry, it also has Motion Detect and Follow, allowing it to lock onto a target and track movement. According to their website, WiSnipe believes their guns should be in banks and embassies, where there may be situations requiring deadly force. But is that really what we need in the world, internet controlled guns and robots? Of course, where would a totalitarian panopticon be without it. I expect to see something like this at the next Republican National Convention, that will show those protesters.

South Korea unveils gun toting sentry robot, uk.news.yahoo.com
Video: South Korea Intelligent Surveillance and Guard Robot, YouTube
WiSnipe.com