is4junk comments on Discussion of concrete near-to-middle term trends in AI - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Punoxysm 08 February 2015 10:05PM

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Comment author: is4junk 09 February 2015 01:17:55AM 9 points [-]

Robotics will get scary very soon. quoted from link:

The conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener. The officials played videos of low-cost drones firing semi-automatic weapons, revealed that Syrian rebels are importing consumer-grade drones to launch attacks, and flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.) But the most striking visual aid was on an exhibit table outside the auditorium, where a buffet of low-cost drones had been converted into simulated flying bombs. One quadcopter, strapped to 3 pounds of inert explosive, was a DJI Phantom 2, a newer version of the very drone that would land at the White House the next week.

Comment author: Emile 09 February 2015 01:23:15PM 6 points [-]

It's debatable how much a "remote controlled helicopters with a camera" should fall under "robotics"; progress in that area seems pretty orthogonal to issues like manipulation and autonomy.

(Though on the other hand modern drones are better at mechanical control "just" remote control: good drones have a feedback loop so that they correct their position)

Comment author: Punoxysm 09 February 2015 05:51:25PM *  1 point [-]

I think drones will probably serve as the driver of more advanced technologies - e.g. drones that can deposit and pick up payloads, ground-based remote-controlled robots with an integration of human and automatic motion control.

Comment author: skeptical_lurker 09 February 2015 07:36:03PM 4 points [-]

$5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.)

But I bet the $5,000 worth of drones doesn't include the cost of buying armour-piercing explosives.