this is scary. I dont think it has been posted yet. I have not seen it. so here we go
quote
South Korea unveils gun-toting sentry robot AFP
September 28, 2006
SEOUL -- South Korea Thursday unveiled a high-tech, machine gun-toting sentry robot that could support its troops in detecting and killing intruders along the heavily fortified border with North Korea.
The weapons-grade robot can detect, raise the alarm, and provide suppressive fire, said Lee Jae-Hoon, deputy minister of commerce, industry, and energy. "The Intelligent Surveillance and Guard Robot has surveillance, tracking, firing, and voice recognition systems built into a single unit," he added.
Lee said that hundreds of the robots could be deployed along the 155-mile-long (248 kilometer) demilitarized zone bisecting the two Koreas as well as along the country's coastline and at military airfields.
With modifications, they could also be used to guard civilian installations such as airports, power stations, and oil pipelines. However, the government has made no decision yet on whether to deploy the robots along the world's last Cold War frontier.
Equipped with visual and infra-red detection capabilities, the sentry robot can spot moving objects up to four kilometers (2.5 miles) away during the day and half that distance at night.
Via "pattern recognition," it can distinguish between humans, cars, or trees at two kilometers in daytime and one kilometer at night. Suppressive fire can be provided by a machine gun on top.
The robot was developed by a group of four institutions including Samsung Techwin Co. and Korea University over three years at a cost of some $10 million in government and private funds. Each costs 190 million won ($200,000) and the developers expect to sell around $200 million worth of them when they go on sale late next year.
"The robot will also help cope with the expected decrease in conscripts in the coming years," Lee told journalists.
South Korea has a largely conscript military of 650,000 against Pyongyang's 1.2 million-strong forces, but a falling birth rate means that Seoul will struggle in the future to maintain troop numbers.
I read in another article that they plan on buying 1000 of these.
Scary? Hell, I want a couple. I can see the opportunities now. Problem neighbors, Vandals, Kids using your property as a short cut, Tired of salesman knocking on your door, neighbors dumping their crap on your property, need a guardian, escort or chaperone for your daughters dates to maintain a safe seperation from that boy with raging hormones? Call me at 762-6267 Robo Cop. Rent a robot.
------------------ Ron Freedom isn't Free, it's paid for with the blood and dreams of those that have gone before us. My imagination is the only limiting factor to my Fiero. Well, there is that money issue.
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 09-29-2006).]
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08:33 AM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Only ten million to develop. Damn man paper plates probably got more funding to produce. mattel spends more money making toys for gi joe. OmG it has voice recognition!!! So do little Dolls that actually need their diaper Changed. Yeah tose guys are really hitting the big time now.