http://uk.news.yahoo.com/23092005/80/battle-robots-join-dogs-s-korea-border.html]
SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed, six-legged robots may one day work alongside man’s best friend on the southern side of the Korean DMZ.
South Korea will spend 33.4 billion won (18.2 million pounds) over the next five years to develop the robots for the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula, the Communications Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
South Korea envisages the robots performing roles on the battlefield now done by dogs, such as sniffing for explosives and catching intruders, the ministry said.
The robots will stand knee-high to the average adult, mounted on wheels for road missions or on as many as eight legs to get them over uneven terrain, it said. Equipped with firearms, they will be able to carry out combat missions via remote control.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry announced plans this month to reduce the number of its troops in uniform by about 25 percent over 15 years and develop more high-tech weapons systems.
North Korea maintains most of its 1.2-million-strong army near its border with the South. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice.
Radio controlled super fighting rocots of doom? Excellent! I sure hope the frequencies aren’t used for remote controlled cars during battle!
[Childhood memory]I remember this one time when I was in the park with a radio controlled car that somebody was using the same frequency as me and everything went to pooh and then I changed the frequency I was using by flicking a switch on the controller in my hands and it was okay again and I carried on accidently driving my car into the ankles of grownups.[/Childhood memory]
I wonder what would happen if these robots were entered into robot wars… hmmmm…
The next stage is for these robots to be capable of fully independant thought and we’ll all be safe forever and ever and ever. Smiley face.