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

Automata: machines that imitate the behavior of living things. From Automatoi, the animated statues of animals and men created by the smith god Hephaestus. These examples reflect how, in some cases, people have been thinking about robotics as far back as 8 or 9th century BC.

Khalkotauroi (Bronze-footed Bulls) were two fire-breathing bull-shaped automata forged out of bronze by the smith-god Hephaestos as a gift for Aeetes, king of Kolkhis. When Jason and the Argonauts came to Kolkhis in searh of the Golden Fleece, Aeetes demanded the hero Yoke the bulls and plow field with dragon’s teeth before he would hand over the fleece.

The Khryseiai Keledones or Celedones (Golden Charmers) were beautiful women-shaped automata. Crafted out of gold, they adorned the first temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Kuonkhryseos and Kuonargyreos were a pair of watchdogs, "deathless for ever and unchanging," one of gold, the other of silver, made for the palace of King Alkinous of the Phaiakians, visited by Odysseus (Ody. 7.87).

Kaukasian Eagle was a giant bronze robot, constructed by Hephaestus for the daily task of pecking out chained Titan Prometheus’ regenerating liver, who is punished for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind.

Talos was a giant bronze robot which Hephaestos presented to Europa, Queen of Crete, on her wedding to Minos. The automaton would run around the entire island three times a day, patrolling for pirates whom he would drive off by throwing stones. Some claim that he was actually a bronze man from the bronze generation (mentioned by Plato in his Laws) , for he had one blood vessel that extended from his neck down to his ankles, where it was kept in place by a bronze bolt (Apollodorus 1.140). He was destroyed by Medea from Jason’s ship. Out of range of Telos’ rocks, she invoked the Keres (spirits of death), three times in song, three times in spoken prayer, and then focused her "malignity" on the robot. Then as Telos was picking up a big stone, he grazed his ankle on a sharp rock, "ichor ran from him like molten lead", he stood for a second, "high on the jutting cliff" and then "came down with a resounding crash" (Argonautica 4.1638).

The Tripodes Khryseoi were a set of twenty golden tripods on wheels made by Hephaestos for the Olympian feasts. They were endowed with self-animation and wheeled themselves in and out of the halls as they were required (Iliad 18.371).

The Hippoi Kabeiroi were a pair of fire-breathing horses which Hephaestos cast out of bronze for his sons (the Kabeiroi). Wonder if they could beat Achilles’ immortal horses Balius and Xanthus in a fight. 

The Kourai Khryseai were a two lifelike golden maiden automata. They were said to possess intelligence, strength and the gift of speech. They would help Hephaestus with his household.

"We aimed to create a robot that could live and co-exist with people," Toshihiko Horiuchi, Hitachi’s Mechanical Research Lab. Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existenceas Workmate - or Emiew, is the new robot for Hitachi, to be showcased at this month’s World Fair. As you can see from prototypes Pal and Chum, the Emiew is a hybrid of a Star Wars storm trooper and a Segway scooter, some sort of storm scooter. It’s 4.2 ft (1.3 m) tall, can move at 3.7 miles (6 km)/hour, has sensors on the head, waist and near the wheels, responds to commands from a vocabulary of about 100 words, and can be "trained" for practical use in 5-6 years. Sony and Honda have also made humanoid robots to showcase their engineering, in a recent robot race of one-upmanhip. I like Toyota’s, because it plays trumpet. By 2007, it is predicted there will be c. 2.5 mil "entertainment and leisure" robots in homes (137,000 today), with c. 4.1 mil doing house work, according to the UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) and the International Federation of Robotics.

Hitachi unveils ‘fastest robot’, BBC News.

Brittleness, in a robot or program, is an inability to deal with unexpected developments, an important problem in AI. For examples of brittleness see the DARPA Grand Challange, $1 million competition for racing a robot across 142 miles of Mojave Desert in under 10 hours, which not one robot came close to doing, with some running into obstacles, others having navigation problems, and with one which couldn’t start itself. Th solution proposed by Michael L Anderson and Donald R Perlis is a metacognitive loop, a mechanism whereby the robot or program can notice whether or not it is achieving its goals, and if not, it can then try something else or just perform random variations in behavior until it gets better results. No one wants a brittle robot.

Logic, self awareness and self-improvment; The metacognitive loop and the problem of brittleness, Michael L Anderson and Donald R Perlis, Journal of Logic and Computation 14, 2004