[Super Punch via io9]

A humanoid robot is a general-purpose robot that looks a lot like a person, complete with a head, torso, arms and legs. The "total package" humanoid can walk bipedally, like a person, and use its hands to dexterously manipulate objects in the world.

Current prototypes like the Honda ASIMO can deliver tea and politely shake hands with their human masters, but based on some great sci-fi movies, humanoid robots are supposed to be terrors on the battlefield—walking titanium endoskeletons crunching over human skulls and mowing down pesky humans with massive handheld Gatling guns.

Will we ever really see a humanoid robot army? I think so, and here are my top five reasons why.

1. There is a one-to-one mapping between the human and the humanoid body.
Robots aren't yet smart enough to play without supervision. That's why human soldiers control unmanned aerial vehicles from thousands of miles away by twiddling joysticks. It isn't easy, but flying a plane through empty space is child's play compared to maneuvering a ground-based robot through rubble and wreckage. And what if you need to do something more complicated than just stepping over a curb, like defusing a bomb?

It's called telepresence. With telepresence, a person feels as though they are the robot by controlling the robot's body and seeing through its eyes. Human-shaped robots are infinitely easier to manipulate because there is a one-to-one mapping between man and machine. Instead of shoving around a non-intuitive joystick, slide your hands into gloves that map your fingers to robot fingers thousands of miles away. Now put your human expertise to work, without putting your human butt in danger.

2. Humanoid robots take advantage of human environments and equipment.
Nothing beats a tank for crossing the desert, but what about crossing a living room? Every human city is designed for a very specific type of animal: homo sapiens. We humans come in a very specific range of sizes and weights, and our environments tend to have specific temperature, vibration and noise limits—all of which simplify the problem of designing a robot. Humanoids are naturally suited to navigating environments designed for humans; they can walk through doorways, climb steps, and see over counters and furniture.

Along with our cities, most military supplies are designed for use by humans. That means a humanoid robot can wear human body armor, boots and camouflage. In addition, it can fire standard-issue weapons and ammunition, removing a need for specially-designed weaponry. Humanoids could also potentially pilot human vehicles. Rather than creating an autonomous vehicle from scratch, just put a humanoid robot in the driver's seat of a standard vehicle. And when a robot squad is on the go and under fire, it always helps to be able to scavenge enemy weapons and improvise. The infrastructure is there, and humanoid robots exploit it.

3. Humanoid robots are easier to train.
War is largely improvised, and that means learning new tricks on the fly. So, how do you teach a robot comrade how to defuse a new type of coffee-can landmine? Without a degree in engineering, you probably don't. But given a humanoid robot, intuitive training approaches are available to regular soldiers. An easy but tedious method is to physically push the robot's limbs through the proper series of movements. Alternately, take direct control through teleoperation and then perform the activity yourself. The robot then just needs to remember how you did it.

Ideally, however, a robot can be trained just like a person—by watching. Robots who learn by demonstration can be quickly trained by ordinary people who do not speak robot-ese or do any programming. That's because it's how we learn from each other. The trainer simply performs the task (e.g., a flying scissor kick) and the robot watches and intuits how to do it. Humanoids are much better at learning by demonstration, thanks to that one-to-one mapping between its body and yours.

4. Teamwork is easier between humans and humanoids.
It is doubtful that robot armies will operate completely autonomously in the near future. Human-robot teams will likely be the norm, as they are today. Therefore, it's important to make sure that human and robot allies can work together without stepping on each others' toes. And that means they've got to have good communication.

Human combat teams communicate and cooperate using language and gestures, and by paying attention to each other's facial expressions and emotions. Robot warriors that recognize human body language will be able to make fast decisions in loud, hazardous environments. Perhaps even more important, a human soldier should be able to understand what a robot is thinking naturally, by reading its body language instead of looking up an error code in an instruction manual. Using the highly familiar human form-factor creates a natural communication channel that allows humanoids to cooperate with humans in chaotic environments where split-second decisions are the norm.

5. The locals could potentially interact with humanoid robots.
War is becoming less about conventional fighting on a mass scale and more about cultural awareness. Last month, President Obama unveiled plans to send hundreds of "social scientists" along with soldiers to Iraq, to counsel the military on local customs. Relative to the faceless robots currently in use, a humanoid robot provides the opportunity for some kind of natural human interaction with non-combatants. Instead of an impersonal unmanned ground vehicle wrecking through walls or an unmanned aerial vehicle dropping bombs from afar, humanoid robots (armed or unarmed) could patrol areas wearing local garb, speaking the local language, and obeying local customs. How P.C.—or just freaky—is that?

On the other hand, humanoid robots can be horribly terrifying.
Mind games are a part of every battle. During World War II, aviators painted snarling teeth on the noses of their fighter planes. Nowadays (and back then), bombs have funny messages written on them, like "Boom shacka lacka," and "You want fries with that?"

Now imagine the enemy reaction on Robot D-Day, when thousands of super-powered humanoid robots march out of the crashing surf, bullets plinking harmlessly from their razor-sharp gilded breast-plates as death metal blares from their metal mouth speaker grilles.

Terrified yet? Well calm down, sissy; humanoid robots aren't on the battlefield, yet. But they might be soon, thanks to their natural ability to communicate and cooperate with humans, the ease with which they can operate in our environments and use our tools, and the terrible fear that blossoms in the heart of man upon laying eyes on the great and horrifying visage of the humanoid robot war machine.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology. Guest writer Daniel H. Wilson earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising and its sequel How To Build a Robot Army. To learn more about him, visit www.danielhwilson.com.

Made by General Atomics (Taking Over The World Really Soon Now™), the Avenger uses a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B powerplant capable of delivering 400 knots (740km/h) at 60,000 feet. This is the same turbofan engine on the Cessna Citation XLS business jet.

Unlike the Citation, however, this angel of destruction can load 3,000 pounds of weapons in its fully internal bay. The bay is internal to match the rest of its stealthy design which—like the F-22 Raptor or the F-35 Lightning II—has no sharp angle differences between surfaces to reduce its radar signature.

Also like the F-35, this perfect flying machine can also carry a foward-looking infrared sensors adapted from the the Joint Strike Fighter. The cost of the robotic fighter is probably between ten dollars and a zillion gazillion euros, but it will make trips to enemy bases to deliver bombs and missiles for free. [Aviation Week and Flight Global]

Acer themselves reported two instances of this happening, which caused its components and case to melt. MELT. If this is you, hit up the CPSC site to get details on how you can get your unit repaired/exchanged for one that doesn't potentially destroy all your belongings. [CSPC via Engadget]

As you can see from the images, this putter takes the idea of a laser putter (been done before), and marries it with not one, but TWO additional lasers. Two of the lasers flank the ball at address, and the top one sits above the ball so it isn't blocked like weaker, less Predator-like laser putters.

Hooked on Golf lays out why, exactly, this is a good thing:

1. Like I said, the three laser configuration gives much more information to the player. Seeing the width of the line via the two lower lasers while the ball is positioned in front of the putter is great.

2. The lasers on the Argon are very bright and much easier to see than other laser putters. This is due to the fact that they’re powered by a 9-volt battery, rather than a tiny watch battery. Having a 9-volt is also better because they’re easily found anywhere when the battery dies. Having to remove and install a tiny watch battery is almost as inconvenient as trying to find a store that sells them.

3. The grip of the Argon putter has the buttons to turn the laser on. You can turn it on as long as you want. Other systems’ lasers are turned on by tapping the club on the ground and the laser is only active for a fixed amount of time.

Note: The Argon Laser Putter does not double as a shoulder-mounted cannon. [Hooked on Golf - Thanks, Tony!]

[Webhemera via Neatorama]

There are a few Wings currently manned by Predator UAVs, which can indeed carry Hellfire missiles, but unlike the Reaper, their main mission is reconnaissance. Quite the contrary, the Reaper is the first true hunter-killer UAV, and its 66-foot wingspan and the ability to carry up to 1.5 tons of laser-guided bombs and other ordnances makes the Predator look like a fluttering sparrow.

And over Iraq, the Reaper can do the targeting-pod recon and close-air support that manned jets most commonly find themselves tasked with at a fraction of the cost (Reapers cost $18 million each, compared to three times that much for an F-16). Not to mention without the operational expenses or potential danger to the pilots, who can be in Las Vegas munching Taco Bell with their families. [Strategy Page via /.]

[Fluke via MAKE Technabob]

Windows Vista OS
Intel Core 2 Extreme or Quad processor
Nvidia nForce 780i SLI chipset
8GB memory
1TB SATA hard disk
4 x 3.5-inch Easy-swap HDD drive bays with either:
BD+ SuperMulti burner
BD/HD DVD reader
Supermulti
Multi-in-one card reader
TV tuner card
Dolby Home Theater audio enhancement
Gigabit Ethernet
56K modem
Front ports:
4 x USB 2.0 ports
Headphone and microphone jacks
Rear ports:
4 x USB 2.0 ports
IEEE 1394 port
PS72 keyboard and mouse ports
2 x Ethernet ports
2 x eSATA ports
6 x audio jacks
S/PDIF jack
Clear CMOS button
TV-out port
2 x DVI-D ports
Acer Empowering Technology software
Acer eRecovery Management
Acer Arcade Live
McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008
Adobe Reader
eSobi
NTI MediaMaker
Dimensions: 490 x 430 x 190 mm

The Predator also has a bunch of accessories, including a Logitech G11 gaming keyboard, GS gaming mouse, remote control, and an Acer LCD monitor and stereo speakers. No word on pricing or availability as yet. [Acer via PC World]

M&S did not identify an alternative shift schedule which would result in improved work effectiveness over that predicted for the current schedule [...] the root problem for this population was not the shift system features themselves, but rather a lack of adequate manpower to provide sufficient recovery opportunities.

Simply put: they don't have any idea about why this is happening. To begin with, these pilots work from the comfort of a chair in their home bases—with no real dangers beyond a few extra pounds and evil hemorrhoids. Just like bloggers.

Unlike "real" fighter or bomber pilots, however, these crews fly the Predators using computer stations that offer them a virtual view of the Predator is seeing, as well as all the on-board instrumentation. In a way, it's like any flight simulator user, except that the images, data and target are real, as well as the payloads.

It even sounds relaxing and fun, but some time ago the Pentagon ordered a study about the health of these elite office chair pilots and found that they were indeed the most fatigued of the military flight crews. As a result, they put a plan into action to help ease their situation: the flight crews got better schedules and one extra day off to enjoy.

However, even after these measures, the new study has found that they still sleep badly and the situation is exactly the same: "nearly 50% of surveyed crewmembers met the diagnostic threshold for levels of daily sleepiness which can be expected to adversely impact job performance and safety."

Quite frankly, I find hard to image how a Predator pilot could be more fatigued than a fighter pilot doing combat missions from an aircraft carrier, but who knows, maybe the aviator eyeglasses give these special powers, while making ground crews look like a moron like me. [Navy Study (PDF) via The Dew Line]

After you have the router configured and the Predator assembled, all you've gotta do is point it in the general direction you plan to steal signals from (obligatory disclaimer which could be illegal in your locale), and it'll automatically grab the strongest one around that can connect to the internet. Overall, pretty neat hack, and useful (and totally legal) if you need internet in, um, your tree house. [I-Hacked via BBG]

He is still perfecting the effect, but while you wait you may download a .qtz file and add it to the following folder: {HardDriveName}/Library/Compositions/directory. This will enable the hologram effect in iChat, granted with a few glitches, but a hologram effect nonetheless! The necessary file can be found by hitting up the link at the bottom. As if that was not enough, fellow Macrumors member, Zneo11, has devised a stunning invisibility effect; think Predator vision. The method to obtain is much the same. We haven't tried these out yet, but let us know how you get on. Now, I'm off to get my girlfriend versed in the way of Princess Leia before I test this out. Hit the links to get downloading, Luke. May the force be with you, Predator. Awesome mash up idea instigating in my brain region... [Macrumors-Hologram, Hologram File, Macrumors-Invisibility]

These babies are about two times as fast as their Predator predecessor, thanks mostly to its new and improved 900-hp turbo-prop engine. They are scheduled to be deployed between this fall and early next spring.

As a bonus, here is a video of a similar beast, the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk.

[Slashdot]

The thing never has to pee, either, and can easily pull an all-nighter, loitering around a target for 24 hours until it's time to pounce. The US military likes them so much, it's going to be substituting these planes for hundreds of the human-piloted screamers such as the F-16, soon retiring around 200 of those Fighting Falcons in favor of this army of killer robot overlords.

Here are more pics of these sneaky pilotless weapons, coming soon to a war-torn country near you:

Here's the Reaper, formerly called the Predator 2, fully loaded:

Another shot of the Reaper:

The Predator:

Well what do you know? There is a future for those with twitch reflex talent, so now you can just say you're preparing for your military career when you play games 24/7. – Charlie White

Attack of the Drones [Bad Guys]