fbpx

Tag Archive for drones

Equal and Opposite Reaction

March 31, 2015 future, Writing Comments Off on Equal and Opposite Reaction

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/tech/innovation/navy-laser-weapon/index.html

A few months ago, over on G+, Daniel Suarez had posted a link regarding the rise of the drone delivery service and the ever growing presence that remotely controlled drones are beginning to have, both the civilian and military kind.

It makes perfect sense that the Navy would already have a “drone killer” of their own in development, and apparently this one is stable enough to be properly deployed for duty (as opposed to still being concept video).

As a laser-based defense (one where the laser is your primary weapon, rather than being used for disorientation or object tracking) this is probably the most sensible use.  Where drones are concerned, you don’t have to worry about casualties (unless you shoot the drone down into a schoolyard) and your range is going to be limited by a combination of power and atmospheric interference, rather than physics.

Multiplicity and the Drone

January 29, 2015 future, Writing Comments Off on Multiplicity and the Drone

 

The idea of AI’s interacting in a swarm or a pack is not a new one.  There have been researchers working with bug-type swarms in mini, evolutionary AI setups for decades.  In “The Extractionist” universe (near-future sci-fi I’m trying to place) this type of pack behavior governs many of the collective systems in the world, from the way cars interact on the highway to the way that the boxing ‘bots in warehouses gather customer orders for shipping.

It’s an answer to the classic Hollywood schtick where the hero has two self-guided missiles or drones or robots target each other, rather than the hero, thereby eliminating the threat and saving the day.  If you gather your AI’s together into a system, whereby they talk to each other and share data and location and speed, etc, they can work together towards a bigger goal (in DARPA’s case, a more accurate combat system) that can be used to build great things without the massive individual complexity required to have a “humanform” AI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

« Older Entries