IT鈥橲 been sixty years since writer Isaac Asimov dreamed up his laws governing
robot behaviour. But the message still hasn鈥檛 sunk in. Researchers in Thailand
have developed a robot security guard that comes armed with a gun, and has no
qualms about whom it shoots.
Called 鈥淩oboguard鈥�, the gun-toting sentinel is designed as a cheap
alternative to a human guard. It can be ordered to fire at will, or told to
check first with a human via a secure Internet connection.
As they appeared in Asimov鈥檚 science fiction writings in 1940, the three laws
of robotics were meant to prevent robots from harming people
(see Table).
Roboguard appears to have the potential to flout all three.
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The machine was built by Pitikhate Sooraksa of King Mongkut鈥檚 Institute of
Technology in Ladkrabang, Bangkok. It consists of a handgun and a small video
camera mounted on a motorised holder that can direct them automatically.
鈥淚t has two modes, manual and automatic,鈥� says Sooraksa. Using the weapon in
manual mode, he can control the gun from a computer anywhere in the world. A
laser pointer on top of the gun marks its current target.
For automatic operation, Roboguard is fitted with infrared sensors that allow
it to track people as they move. Sooraksa has password-protected the 鈥渇ire鈥�
command for when the robot is operated over the Internet. 鈥淲e think the decision
to fire should always be a human decision,鈥� he says. 鈥淥therwise it could kill
辫别辞辫濒别.鈥�
This doesn鈥檛 reassure Kevin Warwick, a cyberneticist at Reading University
who has long warned of the dangers of robots gaining too much power over human
beings. 鈥淭hings can always go wrong,鈥� he says. You can never allow for all
eventualities. 鈥淲e need to think about introducing laws like Asimov鈥檚, but even
then robots will find ways to get round them.鈥�
Other researchers were equally concerned about Roboguard. 鈥淚 find this quite
horrific,鈥� says Chris Czarnecki of the Centre for Computational Intelligence at
De Montfort University in Leicester. 鈥淲hat about time delays across the Internet
when it鈥檚 busy? What you鈥檒l be seeing and what the gun鈥檚 pointing at will be two
different things. You could end up shooting anything.鈥�
Czarnecki also suspects the robot鈥檚 tracking system might be error-prone. 鈥淚f
the tracking鈥檚 infrared, what happens when the Sun comes out? It鈥檚 a big source
of infrared radiation.鈥�
At the moment, Roboguard is tooled up with nothing more powerful than an air
gun. To test its accuracy, Sooraksa pinned balloons to the walls and took
potshots at them from a computer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very similar to a real gun,鈥� he says. It
could easily be upgraded to a more powerful weapon such as a machine gun, he
adds.
Sooraksa says Roboguard might be of interest to private companies, but sees
the armed forces as a more likely buyer. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to show it to the military,鈥�
he says. 鈥淚t should be in good hands.鈥�
The current, static version of Roboguard could be just the start. Sooraksa
hopes to develop his prototype further. 鈥淵ou could make it mobile, it could be
designed as a walking system,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have the technology.鈥�