Computer virus hits US Predator and Reaper drone fleet
A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other war zones.
The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the US military’s most important weapons system.
Boston Dynamics' AlphaDog Quadruped Robot Prototype on Video
AlphaDog, on the other hand, looks like it's getting very close to something that we could see out in the field, using GPS navigation and computer vision to follow soldiers while carrying their gear over any kind of terrain. Boston Dynamics' schedule has the first walk-out of AlphaDog taking place sometime in 2012, when DARPA and the U.S. Marines will begin to put the robot to the test for real.
Chinese researchers create ping-pong playing robots, trash talk still needs work
The robot twins were developed at China's Zhejiang University and, we'll admit, compared to getting hustled at pool or being struck out by a baseball robot, there's something a bit friendlier about a game of table tennis with our future oppressors.
Good find. You should have put a headline on it with a picture.
Makers of infamous BigDog robot unveil human version - PETMAN
(PhysOrg.com) -- Uh oh. Boston Dynamics, makers of the BigDog robot that can haul stuff around for the military has released a video of PETMAN, a human version that looks like a combination of the Terminator and a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica. Maybe even scarier is the fact that it walks like John Wayne; just enough attitude to let you know he's not someone to be messed with.
Their decoding technique borrows concepts from the field of machine vision, which has developed techniques to control robots by removing noise from images and detecting shapes. The Stanford tool, called Decaptcha, uses these algorithms to clean up the image so it can be split into more readily recognized letters and numbers.
Diogenes wrote:Outsmarted: Captcha security not much of a gotcha
Their decoding technique borrows concepts from the field of machine vision, which has developed techniques to control robots by removing noise from images and detecting shapes. The Stanford tool, called Decaptcha, uses these algorithms to clean up the image so it can be split into more readily recognized letters and numbers.
Menacing flying balls. Very nice. I can still clearly remember seeing the cell scene on the Deathstar the first time back in the 70's. What a brain grab scene with the floating ball of unhappiness advancing as the door swished shut. Chills. Reminds me of the scene from Blackhole. Robot menace in a room alone with the victim as the door closes.
