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Real-life 'Imperial Walkers' coming to a galaxy near you...

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Imagine being on the receiving end of these once the military scales them up and perhaps attatches weapons-fire capability onto them...

I wouldn't like to see a bunch of these hopping 'bug-like' towards me, as it does at the end of the video!

Type in - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww and be afraid...


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LOL! The part where it is slipping on the ice really cracked me up. Man, that thing is eerie. Just imagine walking through the forest when you hear that buzzing sound, you turn around and see something that looks like a retarded horse without a head coming towards you...

And people still do not believe me when I speak of the inevitable, eventual, take over of the machines. Maybe people don't believe me now that all they see are people running around with blue tooth adaptors permanently affixed to their ears and blackberry devices glued to their hands, and earbuds seeping sound to their brains at all moments, but no doubt my theories will hold a lot more water to people once they see machines like this thing carrying around mounted machine guns and mowing down enemy infantry. When it was walking over the pile of cinderblocks, I could totally imagine this thing in the scene from the beginning of Terminator 2. Marks my words, there will be a day when dying at the hands of machines built to kill will be a common enough occurence.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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C3PX said:

Marks my words, there will be a day when dying at the hands of machines built to kill will be a common enough occurence.


You know this already happens in war zones. What else can you consider a drone flown by a guy sitting comfortably miles away in a bunker other than dying at the hands of machines built to kill.

That thing is noisy as hell! I'd hear it coming from extremely far away and unless it had long range weapons on it (guided missiles), you could probably take it out pretty easily with an RPG. Still, it's a step in the right direction.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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lordjedi said:


That thing is noisy as hell! I'd hear it coming from extremely far away and unless it had long range weapons on it (guided missiles), you could probably take it out pretty easily with an RPG. Still, it's a step in the right direction.


Imagine a whole army of these things hoping along. It would take a lot of RPGs to take them all out. Regular bullets that can take an organic soldier down with just one hit, even a non fatal hit, will have very little effect on these things.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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C3PX said:

lordjedi said:


That thing is noisy as hell! I'd hear it coming from extremely far away and unless it had long range weapons on it (guided missiles), you could probably take it out pretty easily with an RPG. Still, it's a step in the right direction.


Imagine a whole army of these things hoping along. It would take a lot of RPGs to take them all out. Regular bullets that can take an organic soldier down with just one hit, even a non fatal hit, will have very little effect on these things.


I doubt that. Yeah, he kicked it and it righted itself. Shoot it with a rocket and see how well it does. It's not going to stand for very long, no matter how good it is at keeping itself up. High power automatic rifle rounds will make short order of these things very quickly. They need to be fast, quiet, armored, and well armed.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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It's not an 'Imperial Walker', but AT-AT. All-Terrain Automated Transport. ;)
I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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Wow there is something really creepy about the way that thing moves. I can't put my finger on it. I wouldn't want to run into that thing alone in the woods.
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lordjedi said:

They need to be fast, quiet, armored, and well armed.


They will be.



The same way Aquila
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/aquila.jpg

eventually led to Globalhawk
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/stonetriple/Globalhawk.jpg

DARPA was also involved in both of those. Just as they are with that walking robot.
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I wonder if you could use this sort of thing to aid disabled people instead of killing.
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zombie84 said:

I wonder if you could use this sort of thing to aid disabled people instead of killing.


They already have them.

http://www.ibotnow.com/

No need for legs when you've got wheels and you can be lifted up stairs. Legs actually increase the complexity since you then need gyroscopes for stabilization (that's how this dog looking thing manages to stay standing after it's pushed).

This will probably eventually lead to a humanoid looking robot soldier that can duck and crawl and do everything a real person can do. Except it'll be bullet proof and manned from a bunker 100 miles away from the battlefield. You could then even put a self destruct mechanism into it that blows up everything within a certain distance if it ever becomes incapacitated.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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lordjedi said:

zombie84 said:

I wonder if you could use this sort of thing to aid disabled people instead of killing.


They already have them.

http://www.ibotnow.com/


Yeah but those can't go off-roading through an uphill snow-covered forest like the dog thing. Would be cool to offer that kind of mobility to the disabled. Of course even if they could offer such a thing I imagine it would cost a million dollars.
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zombie84 said:

lordjedi said:

zombie84 said:

I wonder if you could use this sort of thing to aid disabled people instead of killing.


They already have them.

http://www.ibotnow.com/


Yeah but those can't go off-roading through an uphill snow-covered forest like the dog thing. Would be cool to offer that kind of mobility to the disabled. Of course even if they could offer such a thing I imagine it would cost a million dollars.


According to this lady, it can go through snow:

http://www.ibotnow.com/ibot-experiences/stories-laurie.html

"Now, in the iBOT® Mobility System, 4-Wheel Function, I can safely go outside in the winter, get through snow, down our gravel driveway and across soggy, uneven ground."

The iBOT costs about $26k. So about the price of a new car to give someone the mobility they've lost. Some people would say that's a bargain.

There are also other products on the market that are actually advertised as being able to go through snow, like the Landeez http://www.landeez.com/.

The iBOT actually does use gyroscopes, so I was wrong about that. I don't know why none of them use actual legs instead of wheels. If I had to guess, it's probably easier to stabilize wheels then it is to stabilize legs.

DARPA is probably using legs so they can eventually make something that will be indistinguishable from a real thing. Wheels would stand out. Legs can be made to make it look real, giving it a better chance at infiltration. Either way, the technology will eventually trickle down to the consumer, benefiting everyone.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Legs could potentially be better for off road terrain then wheels. Wheels are just much eaiser to get stuck, and on a side note, as matter of personal opinion a robot meant for the battlefield bearing legs would be pretty lame. No matter how good of an ATV you have, it isn't going to take you everywhere. Nothing beats your own to legs when it comes to off road excursions. Robotic legs would need to be highly developed to be of much use, which up to now they haven't been. That is why you don't see wheel chairswith legs. Also this type of technology takes a lot of money to develop, there just isn't enough money in the medical field for something so complex to be developed for it. The average consumer could never afford a price that will beable to come anywhere near making up for the costs of these things. Typically the biggest strides in technology come from warmachines, R&D for weapons, that is just a simple fact that can never change.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape