Roboti, dronovi i slične skalamerije

[Meho Krljic]

I, šta kad algoritmi budu odlučivali o tome koliku kaznu sud treba da razreže za koje krivično delo?


Zapravo... to se događa već deset godina:


Wisconsin's sentencing algorithm faces a court battle

Do you want a computer to help decide a convict's fate?


    Many people are nervous about the prospect of using algorithms to predict crime, and a legal battle in Wisconsin is illustrating why. The state's Supreme Court is close to ruling on an appeal from Eric Loomis, who claims that the justice system relied too heavily on its Compas algorithm to determine the likelihood of repeat offenses and sentence him to 6 years in prison. His attorneys claim that the code is "full of holes," including secret criteria and generic decisions that aren't as individually tailored as they have to be. For instance, they'll skew predictions based on your gender or age -- how does that reflect the actual offender?
         Algorithms in sentencing aren't new. They've been in use for over 10 years, and their deployment is widening to states like Pennsylvania. However, the court challenge could force Wisconsin and other states to think about the weight they give to algorithms. While they do hold the promise of both preventing repeat offenses and avoiding excessive sentences for low-threat criminals, the American Civil Liberties Union is worried that they can amplify biases or make mistakes based on imperfect law enforcement data. Without transparency, it's hard to say for sure that Loomis and other convicts are getting an appropriate amount of prison time.
   

[Meho Krljic]

Don't Look Up: Robot Deliveries Will Roll, Not Fly Through Washington, DC

“Can you push the crosswalk button for me, please?”
 The voice is from a human far away from the intersection at which you are standing. What is in fact standing next to you, emitting the sound, is a 16-inch-tall robot politely asking for help crossing the street.
 Meet what could be your next mail, pizza or grocery delivery service.
 With a range of up to two or three miles, the robot, developed by Starship Technologies, is designed to service those last mile deliveries.
 Henry Harris-Burland, communications manager for Starship Technologies, says the company is testing the devices around the globe, hoping to transform the on-demand delivery industry.
 Uber Takes Self-Driving Car for a Spin in Pittsburgh 
 
 
 What’s the process of ordering something through Starship? Let’s use pizza as an example:
 A customer orders their pizza from a participating store through their personal computer, phone or tablet. When prompted, they will have an option to select “Starship Delivery.”
 The robot is either stationed at the store or launched from a nearby hub to fetch the pie.
 For security, the recipient is given a pin, which they will be prompted to enter into their app when the robot arrives at their front door. The correctly entered pin will unlock the compartment of the robot holding the customer's hot pizza.



 There are some obstacles facing the launch of such a service, but Starship seems ready to hurdle each of them.
 For example, crossing a busy intersection could prove very difficult for an automated machine.
 In addition to its GPS and computer vision capability, the robot is equipped with nine cameras and two-way audio capabilities. When confronted with any kind of issue or trouble, a human at Starship can take over. The remote operator can have a two-way conversation with those around the robot and also has the ability to use the cameras to see its environment.
 The team at Starship has lofty goals for the service.
 Over time, the company hopes to work its way up to 99 percent autonomous capability, meaning a remote human operator would only have to intervene about 1 percent of the time.
 They hope to make the robots available for 24/7 delivery and for only a $1 fee.
 What is it like to come into contact with one of these machines? According to the Starship spokesperson, after 4,000 miles of testing and coming into contact with 400,000 people, 60 to 65 percent of people simply ignore the robot. Most seem unfazed.
 Harris-Burland says they have yet to have a single instance of vandalism.
 The robot rolls at a human-like pace -- about 4 miles per hour. It sizes up at about 20 inches long and 16 inches tall, can carry 20 to 25 pounds of cargo and runs on about the same amount of energy as a light bulb, according to the spokesperson.
 “People don’t want drones above their backyard, above their kids' heads, because if they drop out of the sky, someone is going to get hurt,” Harris-Burland told ABC News.
 While Washington, D.C., is a “no drone zone,” lawmakers in the nation’s capital are paving the road for the rolling robots.
 The D.C. Council passed the “Personal Delivery Device Act of 2016” on June 22 and approved Starship Technologies to begin testing its product.
 Testing in the District of Columbia will begin in September. Residents can expect to see about five of these robots roaming the sidewalks of D.C. when testing begins.
 Starship was started by two Skype co-founders.

https://youtu.be/MEWfsVPqKi4

[Meho Krljic]

Američki narod demonstrira urođeni slobodarski duh!!!!!!!


Woman shoots drone: “It hovered for a second and I blasted it to smithereens.”

With a single shotgun blast, a 65-year-old woman in rural northern Virginia recently shot down a drone flying over her property.
The woman, Jennifer Youngman, has lived in The Plains, Virginia, since 1990. The Fauquier Times first reported the June 2016 incident late last week. It marks the third such shooting that Ars has reported on in the last 15 months—last year, similar drone shootings took place in Kentucky and California.
Youngman told Ars that she had just returned from church one Sunday morning and was cleaning her two shotguns—a .410 bore and a 20-gauge—on her porch. She had a clear view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and neighbor Robert Duvall’s property (yes, the same Robert Duvall from The Godfather). Youngman had seen two men set up a card table on what she described as a “turnaround place” on a country road adjacent to her house.
“I go on minding my business, working on my .410 shotgun and the next thing I know I hear ‘bzzzzz,’" she said. "This thing is going down through the field, and they’re buzzing like you would scaring the cows."
Youngman explained that she grew up hunting and fishing in Virginia, and she was well-practiced at skeet and deer shooting.
“This drone disappeared over the trees and I was cleaning away, there must have been a five- or six-minute lapse, and I heard the ‘bzzzzz,’" she said, noting that she specifically used 7.5 birdshot. “I loaded my [20-gauge] shotgun and took the safety off, and this thing came flying over my trees. I don’t know if they lost command or if they didn’t have good command, but the wind had picked up. It came over my airspace, 25 or 30 feet above my trees, and hovered for a second. I blasted it to smithereens.”
When the men began to walk towards her, she told them squarely: “The police are up here in The Plains and they are on their way and you need to leave.”
The men complied. “They got in their fancy ostentatious car—I don’t know if it was a Range Rover or a Hummer—and left,” she said. The Times said many locals believe the drone pilots may have been paparazzi or other celebrity spotters flying near Duvall's property.
Youngman said that she recycled the drone but managed to still be irritated by the debris left behind. "I’ve had two punctures in my lawn tractor," she said.
The Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office said it had no record of anyone formally complaining about this incident. When Ars asked if the office had heard of any other similar incidents in the region, Sgt. James Hartman replied: "It's happened around the country but not in this region to my knowledge."
For now, American law does not recognize the concept of aerial trespass. But as the consumer drone age has taken flight, legal scholars have increasingly wondered about this situation. The best case-law on the issue dates back to 1946, long before inexpensive consumer drones were technically feasible. That year, the Supreme Court ruled in a case known as United States v. Causby that a farmer in North Carolina could assert property rights up to 83 feet in the air.
In that case, American military aircraft were flying above his farm, disturbing his sleep and upsetting his chickens. As such, the court found he was owed compensation. However, the same decision also specifically mentioned a "minimum safe altitude of flight" at 500 feet—leaving the zone between 83 and 500 feet as a legal gray area. "The landowner owns at least as much of the space above the ground as he can occupy or use in connection with the land," the court concluded.
Last year, a pilot in Stanislaus County, California, filed a small claims lawsuit against a neighbor who shot down his drone and won. However, it is not clear whether the pilot managed to collect. Similarly, a case ensued in Kentucky after a man shot down a drone that he believed was flying above his property. The shooter in that case, William Merideth, was cleared of local charges, including wanton endangerment.
But earlier this year, the Kentucky drone's pilot, David Boggs, filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in Louisville to make a legal determination as to whether his drone’s flight constituted trespassing. Boggs asked the court to rule that there was no trespass and that he is therefore entitled to damages of $1,500 for his destroyed drone. The case is still pending.
Youngman said she believed in 2nd Amendment rights and also was irritated that people would try to disturb Duvall.
“The man is a national treasure and they should leave him the fuck alone,” she said.
UPDATE Tuesday 9:15am ET: Some commenters have pointed out our error with respect to the type of gun used. We clarified with Youngman herself and she used the 20-gauge shotgun to destroy the drone. What she referred to as a ".410 gauge," is also known as a ".410 bore," a firearm that she says she uses for squirrel hunting. We have also replaced the picture to replace the accurate shotgun.

[mac]

It's on: Team Japan accepts US challenge to a giant robot duel

Duel se desio. Biće prenos snimka na Twitchu 18. oktobra u 4 ujutro po našem vremenu.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/12/16464150/megabots-giant-robot-duel-live-stream-watch-twitch

[mac]

Zabavno je. Predviđam da će biti još ovakvih duela.

https://youtu.be/Z-ouLX8Q9UM

[Meho Krljic]

The Scientist and the AI-Assisted, Remote-Control Killing Machine
 
 

Podugačko o tome kako je Izrael napravio robota da ubije iranskog nuklearnog naučnika...

[dark horse]

Ruska farma sa robotima

Satirično i Star Wars retro, ali kao u svakoj šali verovatno ima i nešto istine...

[mac]

Iran Media Publishes UFO-Like Object Aboard US Aircraft Carrier, Speculates It’s A TR-3 Black Manta

Vid' trouglasti meteorološki balon...

Mada, verovatnoća da je slika fejk je cenim dobrih 85%.

[mac]

An actual, real-world use for robot dogs

https://youtu.be/PkW9wx7Kbws

[Meho Krljic]

Okay this is just getting kinky:
 
 
 
 Scientists covered a robot finger in living human skin

[Meho Krljic]

 Shocking video shows Chinese robot attack dog with machine gun dropped by drone

[Meho Krljic]

Disney Imagineers' Next Robot Is a Nightmarish Little Freak