I have a long standing interest in semi-autonomous systems ('robots' if you would, but I draw the boundary more widely), from both the technical and investment points of view. As a result, I'll be attending the finals of the DARPA Urban Challenge in southern California at the end of the month. This is the successor to the Grand Challenge of 2005, which saw five autonomous vehicles complete a 132 mile course through desert and mountains, and was one of DARPA's most effective programs ever. This time, the course includes city streets and other vehicles, and requires obeying safety and traffic rules. The ultimate goal is to produce robotic logistics vehicles that can reduce the number of personnel required to handle supplies and support, and to be exposed to IEDs and other hazards.
Thanks to the generosity of Joe Katzman, I'll be attending the event credentialed as a stringer for Defense Industry Daily. I may be posting stories there, at Winds of Change, and here.
So here's the bleg: I've got my own ideas for interesting story angles, points of information and questions to ask the participants. I've also got a very eclectic readership here, with some very deep technologists and investors. What would you like to know? What would you ask? I can't guarantee to follow up on every idea, but anything that strikes a chord or is part of a cluster of interests will be used. Comments are open, and my e-mail is in the 'about'.
It's not an original question, but I worry about the ethics of robotic war. We already care precious little about casualties of other nationalities and other collateral damage, so robots seem to only make war even more remote and dehumanized. I imagine that the creators of these devices don't care much about this concern and would answer something like "I am technologist - I just build the machines to spec."
Sorry I don't have anything better to contribute. I do like reading your blog, though, so I figured I take a swag to give you feedback given this rare opportunity.
Posted by: Michael Weiksner | October 21, 2007 at 11:39
It should be clear that the Urban Challenge is devoted to developing autonomous logistics vehicles - you might call them 'drones'. There are no weapons in the program. The only 'weaponized' bots of which I'm aware - Predator UAV and the armed Packbot - have the offensive functions completely under remote human control. I see little ethical problem in a program that has the effect of taking our guys out of harm's way.
As far as '...care precious little about casualties... and collateral damage...", our guys have taken considerable casualties due to restraint in their rules of engagement, and frequent reluctance to 'go kinetic' when the situations might otherwise warrant it. If you're looking for a sneer at our armed forces, you've come to the wrong address.
Posted by: Tim Oren | October 22, 2007 at 08:51