No, officers, we're computer scientists and engineers.

All the pictures are really neat. An autonomous vehicle of every shape and size. I think some of the video's audio overdubbing got mixed up in a few places. Maybe it was the stream. Nevermind, its not important.

Elite soldier units supplied by autonomous vehicles, "really smart" land bombs disguised as SUVs and cars, robot scouts, and many more products of science fiction are on the way, given the will to proceed by taking some very natural steps. The armies of the future are going to include much enlisted metal and many officers bread by video games. I either feel terrified or safe. I am not sure which.

What I truly fear is what will happen if we wind up with too significant a portion of our overall R&D capability as a country focused on building weapons. When we decide to lay new ground, we wind up creating things like the atomic bomb. WWII showed some amazing examples of how we could leverage our manufacturing capability and ingenuity at the time. We know our high tech creation engine is capable of performing similar amazing feats today. If we turn that on, we better be aware that once its on, its going to be pointed at something. Just based on the fact that humans don't seem to practice much restraint in the face of threats, we should assume we will wind up using whatever we create. Lets be careful about what we create.

In terms of robots, I see us at being able to either reach beyond ourselves, or reach out and crush someone. I would really rather be making Mars Rovers then Robot Warriors even though I see reason for both. As long as certain other people are also thinking in that same direction, this is a very good thing. The work of NASA may be the most peaceful way to exercise the power of the state. We have China to compete with now, and I think we can see eye-to-eye just enough to complete peacefully.

At any given time, I'm not sure if I should be in awe or scared shitless of DARPA. I do have the Internet here to sit and pontificate on, so I guess it can't be that bad. I hope our future robot masters are benevolent. :)

No, officers, we're computer scientists and engineers.

This begs for a Weird Al parody of Jazzy Jeff's "Parents Just Don't Understand."

No, officers, we're computer scientists and engineers.

Be sure to check out the photos and video.