WILL A ROBOT EARN A PURPLE HEART? Público Deposited

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  • The E-Sylum: Volume 10, Number 18, May 6, 2007, Article 24

    WILL A ROBOT EARN A PURPLE HEART?

    A very interesting question was raised by an article in today's Washington
    Post. It discussed the growing importance of robots in the U.S military
    and notes how many soldiers have come to feel like the machines are comrades
    in arms. Will the day come when the military awards an official medal to
    a valiantly-performing machine? You read it here first - troops are already
    awarding unofficial "purple hearts" to their valiant helpers.

    "The most effective way to find and destroy a land mine is to step on it.

    "This has bad results, of course, if you're a human. But not so much if
    you're a robot and have as many legs as a centipede sticking out from your
    body. That's why Mark Tilden, a robotics physicist at the Los Alamos
    National Laboratory, built something like that. At the Yuma Test Grounds
    in Arizona, the autonomous robot, 5 feet long and modeled on a stick-insect,
    strutted out for a live-fire test and worked beautifully, he says. Every
    time it found a mine, blew it up and lost a limb, it picked itself up and
    readjusted to move forward on its remaining legs, continuing to clear
    a path through the minefield.

    "Finally it was down to one leg. Still, it pulled itself forward. Tilden
    was ecstatic. The machine was working splendidly.

    "The human in command of the exercise, however -- an Army colonel --
    blew a fuse.

    "The colonel ordered the test stopped.

    "Why? asked Tilden. What's wrong?

    "The colonel just could not stand the pathos of watching the burned,
    scarred and crippled machine drag itself forward on its last leg.

    "This test, he charged, was inhumane."

    "The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have become an unprecedented field
    study in human relationships with intelligent machines. These conflicts
    are the first in history to see widespread deployment of thousands of
    battle bots.

    "Even more startling than these machines' capabilities, however, are
    the effects they have on their friendly keepers who, for example, award
    their bots 'battlefield promotions' and 'purple hearts.' 'Ours was
    called Sgt. Talon,' says Sgt. Michael Maxson of the 737th Ordnance
    Company (EOD). 'We always wanted him as our main robot. Every time he
    was working, nothing bad ever happened. He always got the job done. He
    took a couple of detonations in front of his face and didn't stop working.
    One time, he actually did break down in a mission, and we sent another
    robot in and it got blown to pieces. It's like he shut down because he
    knew something bad would happen.' The troops promoted the robot to
    staff sergeant -- a high honor, since that usually means a squad leader.
    They also awarded it three 'purple hearts.'"

    "When we first got there, our robot, his name was Frankenstein" says
    Sgt. Orlando Nieves, an EOD from Brooklyn. "He'd been in a couple of
    explosions and he was made of pieces and parts from other robots." Not
    only did the troops promote him to private first class, they awarded
    him an EOD badge -- a coveted honor. "It was a big deal. He was part
    of our team, one of us. He did feel like family."

    To read the complete article, see: Full Story

    [There is precedent for awarding medals to non-human soldiers - the
    Dickin Medal, created in 1943 to honor acts of outstanding animal bravery.
    Pigeons, dogs, horses and a cat have received the honor, which is still
    given today. Is a medal for a robot so far-fetched? Mark my words, the
    day will come. -Editor]

    DICKIN MEDAL: THE VICTORIA CROSS FOR ANIMALS
    esylum_v07n48a15.html

URL da fonte Data de publicação
  • 2007-05-06
Volume
  • 10

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