Israel unveils portable killer robot

Equipped with machine pistol and grenades, Viper designed to reduce risks to soldiers who might face hand-to-hand combat.

The story "Israel unveils portable killer robot" published March 8, 2007 at 5:03 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[Blito]

Let me put it this way

If a robot ever harmed me or my family I would find the operator or even the creator of that robot and ya now.

[My-Self]

Good luck ...

The problem is ... the creator of the robot is a faceless corporation and you'll never be able to establish who the operator was. The best way to fight a a bot army would be to jam their communication, or retaliate against those who created them as a group / a nation. Some call it resistance, some call it terrorism.

[Dr. B]

Stuff like this

This robot is another example of why you don't want to mess with
Israel - because they will come back and they will kick yo @$$.

Now lets see some photos!

[aaroberts]

This is totally irresponsible

There was a very good reason why Asimov came up with the three laws of robotics. Of course these first versions of robots will be primative, but 10/15 years down the road they may well be cable of much higher function.

Are we engineering our own extinction by allowing this to happen?

[hadaso]

We're engineering our own extinction by ...

We're engineering our own extinction by allowing people to worship satan and call it god ...

[inouyde]

Reply To AAROBERTS

Your underlying assumption is engineering our own extinction is a bad thing?

[kwaman29]

Serial Killer Robots

I can see it now...some kind of software malfunction and the robots go around killing innocent people and wrecking all kinds of havoc...sounds like a scenario out of an 80's movie

[Dr. B]

Let me guess

The Terminator?

[fcekuahd]

Let's keep it in perspective...

We currently incur a large number of casualties due to 'friendly fire' without the aid of robots.

[C_G_K]

Limited usefulness

So, you are going to try to figure out if the shadowy figure you see on the monitor is an enemy fighter or an innocent civilian before getting the robot to toss a grenade or open up with an UZI. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. I don't think this will replace human soldiers, but may be a useful aid to soldiers once they have determined where the enemy is and if civilians may be present.

[Stating]

War Is A Great Growth Business

Well, those few years of a "peace dividend" after the Cold War were sure nice. But ultimately peace is bad for business.

Regarding Israel's killbot, I think that as long as the U.S. is funding Israel's defense to the tune of $4 billion annually, we should own the rights to any R&D that they develop as a result of that funding. Enough with giving the world a free ride with OUR money.

[GGGlen]

Get with the program

I, for one, welcome our new robotic masters.