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General purpose robots should not be weaponized: An open letter to the robotics industry and our communities
Open Robotics
07 Nov 2022
After a lot of thoughtful discussion, deliberation, and debate with our colleagues, we have co-authored and signed an open letter to the robotics community.
‘Killer robots’ will be nothing like the movies show – here’s where the real threats lie
The Conversation
19 Oct 2022
Killer robots won’t be sentient humanoid robots with evil intent. This might make for a dramatic storyline and a box office success, but such technologies are many decades, if not centuries, away. It’s much simpler technologies we should be worrying about.
UN fails to agree on ‘killer robot’ ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research
The Conversation
16 Jan 2022
Given the pace of research and development in autonomous weapons, the U.N. meeting might have been the last chance to head off an arms race.
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325
podcast
The Advantage of Fins, with Benjamin Pietro Filardo
Abate De Mey
16 Dec 2020
Robohub Podcast · The Advantage of Fins
Abate interviews Benjamin "Pietro" Filardo, CEO and founder of Pliant Energy Systems. At PES, they developed a novel form of actuation using two undulating ...
United Technologies acquires Rockwell Collins for $30 billion
Frank Tobe
08 Sep 2017
Aerospace conglomerate United Technologies is paying $30 billion to acquire Rockwell Collins in a deal that creates one of the world’s largest makers of civilian and defense aircraft components.&nbs...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 7/17/17
The South Korean Navy conducted shipboard flight tests for the TR-60 tilt-rotor UAV. Source: KARI
July 10, 2017 – July 16, 2017
If you would like to receive the Weekly Roundup in your inbox...
More efficient and safer: How drones are changing the workplace
Jonathan Downey
23 Jun 2017
Technology-driven automation plays a critical role in the global economy, and its visibility in our lives is growing. As technology impacts more and more jobs, individuals and enterprises find themsel...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 6/5/17
May 29, 2017 – June 4, 2017
News
A German court has thrown out a protest filed by U.S. drone maker General Atomics Aeronautical Systems over the German military’s decision to acquire the I...
Xponential 2017 in images
The National Robotics Education Foundation
25 May 2017
The Xponential 2017 national conference was held May 8-11 by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. The even...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup 5/15/17
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 (EODMU5) Platoon 142 recover an unmanned underwater vehicle onto a Coastal Riverine Group 1 Detachment Guam MK VI patrol boat in the Pacif...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup 5/8/17
May 1, 2017 – May 7, 2017
If you would like to receive the Weekly Roundup in your inbox, please subscribe at the bottom of the page.
News
The European Aviation Safety Association has propo...
Technical challenges in machine ethics
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
08 Feb 2017
Machine ethics offers an alternative solution for artificial intelligence (AI) safety governance. In order to mitigate risks in human-robot interactions, robots will have to comply with humanity’s e...
The Digger Foundation competing for a $1million prize
The Digger Foundation
30 Jan 2017
The DOME Project of the Digger Foundation has been shortlisted as finalist of the
prestigious Robotics Award for Good taking place in Dubai in February 2017, where
a $1million price will be awarded ...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 01/09/17
January 2, 2017 – January 8, 2017
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
We are delighted to announce that we are collaborating with the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan on ...
Robotics in harsh environments
Alex Regrettier
04 Nov 2016
In the field of hostile conditions, outer space is often considered the epitome of harsh environments. However, it’s not necessary to travel so far in order to locate situations with extreme condi...
Report examines China’s expansion into unmanned industrial, service, and military robotics systems
Robohub Editors
03 Nov 2016
In October, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report, China’s Industrial and Military Robotics Development, prepared by the Defense Group, Inc. at the Commission’...
Unmanned and underneath: Stay in the know about underwater drones
Dan Gettinger
02 Nov 2016
Editor's note: This article is adapted from a post from November 2015 and includes recent developments and updated spending figures.
In October 2016, the U.K. Royal Navy hosted Unmanned Warr...
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219
podcast
ICRA 2016: Landmine Detection Challenge, with Edson Prestes
Audrow Nash
16 Oct 2016
In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Edson Prestes, Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and an organizer of the Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge (HRATC) 20...
In motion: Video transmission by mobile drones
Christian Bettstetter
07 Oct 2016
Raheeb Muzaffar, an information technology specialist, has developed an application-layer framework that improves the transmission of videos between moving drones and mobile devices located at ground ...
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214
podcast
Project Ngulia: From Phone to Drone, with Fredrik Gustafsson
Audrow Nash
06 Aug 2016
In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Fredrik Gustafsson, Professor in Sensor Informatics at Department of Electrical Engineering in Linköping University, about an initiative to reduce poaching in ...
Over 1,000 robots in use by US law enforcement, based on public data
Download (PDF, 599KB)
Background
Robots are an increasingly common sight in U.S. police departments. These unmanned ground vehicles are used for roles that are deemed too hazardous for law enforce...
Unmanned combat robots beginning to appear
Frank Tobe
14 Jun 2016
IAI's RoBattle unmanned, heavy duty, highly maneuverable, combat and support robotic system (UGV) is being shown at the Eurosatory 2016 Land and Airland Defence and Security tradeshow in Paris this...
Mobile robots fight against deadly legacies of war
Alaa Khamis
28 Apr 2016
Landmines are one of the most lethal weapons in modern warfare. In the military, they are considered the perfect soldier: Ever courageous, never sleeps, never misses. The simplicity and cost-effect...
Talking Machines: AI safety and the legacy of Bletchley Park, with Nick Patterson
Talking Machines
29 Feb 2016
In episode four of season two, we talk about some of the major issues in AI safety, (and how they’re not really that different from the questions we ask whenever we create a new tool.) We take a lis...
The Drone Centre’s Weekly Roundup: 2/22/16
2/15/16 – 2/21/16
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
In October, the White House announced that it will deploy a Predator drone unit to Cameroon. We have obtained the first photographic ...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 2/15/16
2/1/16 – 2/7/16
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
Last week, the Pentagon released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2017. The budget includes nearly $4 billion for drone-related proc...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 2/8/16
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
Today, the Center for the Study of the Drone updated its database of companies and individuals that are allowed to fly drones commercially in U.S. airspace....
iRobot sells off defense & security division
Frank Tobe
04 Feb 2016
In a transaction valued at $45 million, iRobot has sold its Defense and Security division to Arlington Capital Partners. Sean Bielat, who takes over as the CEO, says the new company wil...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 2/1/16
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
Immediately following the detonation of Gilda at Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946, a ghostly fleet of aircraft flew into the rising mushroom cloud. They looked ...
ELROB 2016: Europe’s toughest & longest-running field robotics event is turning 10
Frank E. Schneider
01 Dec 2015
Robotic competitions have sprung up like mushrooms. Beside the obvious ones like EURATHLON, RoboCross, DARPA and MBZIRC, there are hundreds of smaller contests all over the world. Some of them are ac...
Open Roboethics initiative delivers statement to United Nations CCW
Open Roboethics Initiative
17 Nov 2015
On Friday November 13th, AJung Moon from the Open Roboethics initiative delivered a statement at the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Meeting of States Parties....
What you need to know about underwater drones
Dan Gettinger
16 Nov 2015
Late last month, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus appointed Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley to become the first deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems, a position that was created in April...
Fully autonomous weapons: Toby Walsh at TEDx Berlin
Robohub Editors
15 Oct 2015
AI researcher Toby Walsh gives a talk at TEDx Berlin on Killer Robots. Walsh will be participating in a side event and media briefing for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots at the annual meeting of th...
Day One at euRathlon 2015: Video recap
Marta Palau Franco
21 Sep 2015
Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, euRathlon is a civilian outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic cooperative disaster response scenarios. euRathlon 2015 takes place in the area surro...
#eurathlon2015 tests robotic air/land/sea systems in realistic emergency response scenarios
Marta Palau Franco
16 Sep 2015
On March 11, 2011, a tsunami and earthquake struck Fukushima Dai-ichi energy plant causing a major disaster. Since then emergency services have deployed robots to inspect the area and collect data. So...
Icelandic research institute unveils ethical robotics policy
Adriana Hamacher
16 Sep 2015
The Icelandic Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIIM) has become the first R&D centre in the world to adopt a policy that repudiates development of robotic technologies intended for military oper...
