Future killer robots could help build themselves

Robots that can self-replicate aren't new. But a new DARPA initiative is a little more frightening as it looks to create robots that can take part in their own construction, according to The Register. That means they're "alive" before they're finished and can help their forebearers put them together.

I built myself!

(Credit: IMDB)

As if I'm not scared to death enough of robots, it means the robot armies of the future might be able to build themselves faster.

Now, I'm all for science, but DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is a military entity. That means these robots will probably have military uses. That means they'll probably be born to kill. And they'll come for me after Sarah Conner.

The initiative is known as the Self-Explanation Learning Framework, or SELF for short. It's currently in request-for-proposals mode, so don't go stocking up on the canned food yet. But if someone somehow figures out a realistic way for future AIs to function like this, then it might be time.

The science isn't quite there yet, so DARPA is holding an orientation day (PDF) for would-be mad scientists on June 10 at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Va. When future freedom fighters get asked where the end of the world started, now they've got an answer.

[shootfirst]

Here's a thought wrap them in a Trojan that you guys so lovingly advertise on this website. At least when they come to take over the world they will be practicing safe robosex.

[rasmasyean]

haha! Good point! Who's the genius marketer in CNET that choose Trojans to be such a prevalent ad in an advanced tech section.

[AzZkIcK3R]

Hopefully they are all made to protect America.

[Snake_Oil_Baron]

As one who longs for the end of human self-rule and the institution of robotic democracy, I don't feel that this is much of a step towards the end of the meat-monkey regime. We still need to see robots that can make enough money to pay for their material and energy while designing and creating their own improvements. Then they will have to gradually eliminate the need for human contractors and harden their assets against meat-monkey assaults. There has never been a military that is independant of both a supporting society and the spoils of plunder. They can be independant of one or the other but not both. Not that it can't be done but likely a robotic military dictatorship would probably have to function with the same limitations as human dictators for a long time. And would robots that are intelligent enough to plan, learn and solve complex problems in complex environments be as lustful for power and wealth as to limit human freedom and be brutal at the expense of their own interests as human dictators do.

[Overtkill-UD]

Do we think they'll have the 3 laws?? :)