Robots aren’t just made for sci-fi thrillers—they’re on the real frontlines. Military and police use robots to perform operations that are impossible or too dangerous for humans to do. Readers will enjoy this in-depth look into the world of military and police robots, from their history to the newest technology available. How can robots help police? How will robots be used in the future? This volume addresses these questions and more through easy to understand text and fascinating facts. Color photographs bring readers behind the caution tape to learn all about military and police robots.
An FBI agent teams up with the first police robot to hunt a shadowy terrorist in this gripping technothriller--and fact-based tour of tomorrow--from the authors of Ghost Fleet America is on the brink of a revolution. AI and robotics have realized science fiction's dreams, but have also taken millions of jobs and left many citizens fearful that the future is leaving them behind. After narrowly averting a bombing at Washington's Union Station, FBI Special Agent Lara Keegan receives a new assignment: to field test the first police robot. In the wake of a series of shocking catastrophes, the two find themselves investigating a conspiracy whose mastermind is using cutting-edge tech to rip the nation apart. To stop this new breed of terrorist, Keegan's only hope is to forge a new kind of partnership. With every tech, trend, and scene drawn from the real world, Burn-In blends a technothriller's excitement with nonfiction's insight to illuminate the darkest corners of our chilling tomorrow.
Winner of the 2019 William E. Colby Award "The book I had been waiting for. I can't recommend it highly enough." —Bill Gates The era of autonomous weapons has arrived. Today around the globe, at least thirty nations have weapons that can search for and destroy enemy targets all on their own. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in next-generation warfare, describes these and other high tech weapons systems—from Israel’s Harpy drone to the American submarine-hunting robot ship Sea Hunter—and examines the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. “A smart primer to what’s to come in warfare” (Bruce Schneier), Army of None engages military history, global policy, and cutting-edge science to explore the implications of giving weapons the freedom to make life and death decisions. A former soldier himself, Scharre argues that we must embrace technology where it can make war more precise and humane, but when the choice is life or death, there is no replacement for the human heart.
From New York Times bestselling author Robert Venditti comes the second book in the Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape series, about an eighth grader who finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the role of real-life superhero. His latest mission: to defeat an army of robots designed to destroy him! Master the golden cape. Been there. Save the world from an alien invasion. Done that. Dominate the eighth grade. Keep dreaming. Battle an army of super-deadly robots designed to destroy you. Sure didn’t see that one coming. After a summer of fighting crime as Gilded, the world’s only superhero, Miles Taylor is bummed to learn that nothing has changed for him at Chapman Middle School. He is still the primary target of the Jammer’s bullying. And Josie, the girl of his dreams, has put him squarely in the friend zone. Miles starts spending more and more time as Gilded, neglecting his schoolwork and his friends. His bad attitude lands him and his best friend, Henry, in a military compound, at the mercy of the power-crazed General Breckenridge. When the general steals the golden cape, Miles finds himself back at square one with no superpowers…and no hope of escape. On the verge of losing everything—and everyone—he cares about, Miles must discover the hero within himself before the general puts his evil plans into action.
Soldier-robot teams will be an important component of future battle spaces, creating a complex but potentially more survivable and effective combat force. The complexity of the battlefield of the future presents its own problems. The variety of robotic systems and the almost infinite number of possible military missions create a dilemma for researchers who wish to predict human-robot interactions (HRI) performance in future environments. Human-Robot Interactions in Future Military Operations provides an opportunity for scientists investigating military issues related to HRI to present their results cohesively within a single volume. The issues range from operators interacting with small ground robots and aerial vehicles to supervising large, near-autonomous vehicles capable of intelligent battlefield behaviors. The ability of the human to 'team' with intelligent unmanned systems in such environments is the focus of the volume. As such, chapters are written by recognized leaders within their disciplines and they discuss their research in the context of a broad-based approach. Therefore the book allows researchers from differing disciplines to be brought up to date on both theoretical and methodological issues surrounding human-robot interaction in military environments. The overall objective of this volume is to illuminate the challenges and potential solutions for military HRI through discussion of the many approaches that have been utilized in order to converge on a better understanding of this relatively complex concept. It should be noted that many of these issues will generalize to civilian applications as robotic technology matures. An important outcome is the focus on developing general human-robot teaming principles and guidelines to help both the human factors design and training community develop a better understanding of this nascent but revolutionary technology. Much of the research within the book is based on the Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED), U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) 5-year Army Technology Objective (ATO) research program. The program addressed HRI and teaming for both aerial and ground robotic assets in conjunction with the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Research and Development Center (TARDEC) and the Aviation and Missile Development Center (AMRDEC) The purpose of the program was to understand HRI issues in order to develop and evaluate technologies to improve HRI battlefield performance for Future Combat Systems (FCS). The work within this volume goes beyond the research results to encapsulate the ATO's findings and discuss them in a broader context in order to understand both their military and civilian implications. For this reason, scientists conducting related research have contributed additional chapters to widen the scope of the original research boundaries.
The global war on terror is raging out of control. The president is popping Prozac. And the #1 selling videogame in 2011 America is the terrorist-simulator Infidel Massacre: Los Angeles. On the streets of gentrified Brooklyn, videoblogger Jimmy Burns' latest anti-corporate rant is cut short by a terrorist bombing of a Starbucks...but his live feed isn't. When his dramatic footage is uploaded by Global News ("Your home for 24-hour terror coverage") and rebroadcast across the planet, the obscure blogger is transformed into an overnight media sensation. The next thing he knows he's on a Black Hawk helicopter inbound for Baghdad, working for the same mainstream media monster he once loathed. Burns soon finds that everyone from his ratings-ravenous network overlords to Special Ops troops with messianic complexes to a charismatic band of tech-savvy jihadists all want to make him their pawn. Shooting War is an irreverent and unflinching graphic novel satirizing network news, the Iraq War, and the burgeoning "citizen journalism" movement that Rolling Stone magazine calls "a scary-smart take on what the horrors of the future may hold." "Fierce, shocking, over-the-top, and wickedly smart." -New York Magazine "Ambitious...A determined citizen journalist (and overnight celebrity) infuriated by the mainstream media's indifference to the endless war, Burns aims to bring home the facts on the ground." -Paper "This is a winner...the Apocalypse Now of the War on Terrorism, told in the form of a brilliantly rendered graphic novel." -Forbes.com "A stunningly rendered graphic novel that manages to stick a red-hot skewer the war on terror, Islamic jihad, the mainstream media and the antiestablishment blogosphere in one fell swoop." -Newsweek.com
The U.S. military has given nearly 1,000 robots to police departments around the country. This means most police robots are ex-military. Young readers will walk through the history of robots teaming up with those who bravely wear the badge. They can decide for themselves if they think robots belong on the beat.
This book provides an in-depth look at how American consumers will react to the significant social, economic and marketplace changes that will be brought about by the robot revolution. Over the next twenty years, the presence of robots will dramatically increase in our daily lives. Robots will serve as maids, gardeners, companions, waiters, security guards, nurses, teachers, playmates, receptionists, chauffeurs and prostitutes – to name only a few roles they will assume. These robots will be intelligent, autonomous, communicative, emotional, and continually progressing in their abilities. This book provides an in-depth look at how American consumers will react to the significant social, economic and marketplace changes that will be brought about by the robot revolution. Our insights come from national surveys of over 2,700 Americans, as well as a thorough review of existing academic research and expert predictions. We provide suggestions for publically-acceptable robot roles, robot design and the optimal marketplace approaches for successful human-robot interactions. Ready or not, it’s coming. And sooner than you might think.
“Essential reading for all who have a vested interest in the rise of AI.” —Daryl Li, AI & Society “Thought-provoking...Explores how we can best try to ensure that robots work for us, rather than against us, and proposes a new set of laws to provide a conceptual framework for our thinking on the subject.” —Financial Times “Pasquale calls for a society-wide reengineering of policy, politics, economics, and labor relations to set technology on a more regulated and egalitarian path...Makes a good case for injecting more bureaucracy into our techno-dreams, if we really want to make the world a better place.” —Wired “Pasquale is one of the leading voices on the uneven and often unfair consequences of AI in our society...Every policymaker should read this book and seek his counsel.” —Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression Too many CEOs tell a simple story about the future of work: if a machine can do what you do, your job will be automated, and you will be replaced. They envision everyone from doctors to soldiers rendered superfluous by ever-more-powerful AI. Another story is possible. In virtually every walk of life, robotic systems can make labor more valuable, not less. Frank Pasquale tells the story of nurses, teachers, designers, and others who partner with technologists, rather than meekly serving as data sources for their computerized replacements. This cooperation reveals the kind of technological advance that could bring us all better health care, education, and more, while maintaining meaningful work. These partnerships also show how law and regulation can promote prosperity for all, rather than a zero-sum race of humans against machines. Policymakers must not allow corporations or engineers alone to answer questions about how far AI should be entrusted to assume tasks once performed by humans, or about the optimal mix of robotic and human interaction. The kind of automation we get—and who benefits from it—will depend on myriad small decisions about how to develop AI. Pasquale proposes ways to democratize that decision-making, rather than centralize it in unaccountable firms. Sober yet optimistic, New Laws of Robotics offers an inspiring vision of technological progress, in which human capacities and expertise are the irreplaceable center of an inclusive economy.
