http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57614255-76/this-crime-predicting-robot-aims-to-patrol-our-streets-by-2015/?ttag=fbwp [quote]Officially dubbed the K5 Autonomous Data Machine, the 300-pound, 5-foot-tall mobile robot will be equipped with nighttime video cameras, thermal imaging capabilities, and license plate recognition skills. It will be able to function autonomously for select operations, but more significantly, its software will provide crime prediction that's reminiscent, the company claims, of the "precog" plot point of "Minority Report." "It can see, hear, feel, and smell and it will roam around autonomously 24/7," said CEO William Santana Li, a former Ford Motor executive, in an interview with CNET. [b][i][u]The K5 will not be armed.[/u][/i][/b][/quote] This is just plain out scary. I mean, sure, they're not armed, for now, and all they can really do, for now, is scan certain things, record video and audio, etc. Again, it's just scary. Not only are countries putting cameras left and right throughout countries around the world for surveillance, but in all honesty, this is just another means of surveillance for world governments. I don't think this sounds far fetched at all, but eventually (and I genuinely do believe this) these robots, or future iterations of them, will be armed and will eventually be able to take hostile actions against a person that it - a robot - believes is right. I just don't like this at all, but I dunno if there's anything that we can even do about it, and that's a sad thing. Looks like we're just gonna have to accept the inevitable police state that most nations are moving towards. [url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/11263112694_83d8f8ab98_n.jpg]On a side note, the K5 reminds me of the security bots found in A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index.[/url]