You should really have put a content warning on this.

robot teabagging. nice.

*ability to make snarky observations temporarily suspended*

Hey you wanted Dystopia and robots and here it is.
No bullshit.

Yeah, someone is gonna squeak about the content.

Two questions:

1). Must have been a smallish bomb. Douchebag terrorist dude seems surprisingly intact.

2). Do we have a terminology to differentiate between a robot being remote-controlled by a human and a robot that uses software and sensors to perform functions on its own? Because it seems like an important distinction to me, especially as the second kind becomes more common. What does sci-fi have to say about this?

I am disturbed by these photos (who really wouldn't be), but I also realize that we as a society can't shy away from the harsh realities of life or we (as a society) end up as a bunch of emotionally stunted nitwit children who think that violence is clean, tidy and without any real consequences like in the movies.

@zeppelined:
Re: 2) No. The SW and HW are not available for such things (yet.)

@zeppelined: Interesting point.
I built a teleoperated ROV, but still had to hang with robotics guys to get people to know what I was talking about.

More and more what I think you will see for applications like this is hybrid systems in which a human has control, but the (robot device thing) runs it's own suite of sensors and does some navigation to act as an assistant or co-pilot.

You will still likely see a tether of some kind used because radio systems can trip radio activated explosives.

I'm not really sure how this counts as Sci-Fi but your still reluctant to include articles on the fantasy or horror genre. Oh, yeah... robots. Of course... how preschool of a connection.

You shouldve put a content warning on this too.

I think this falls under "The Future Is Now" and "This Is What It Really Looks Like" -- perfectly valid SF credentials.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but I don't understand the outcries for a content warning; that was a fairly tidy corpse, and we already knew it was robot vs. terrorist dead guy -- what did everyone expect to see after the jump?

I would suggest that we're closer to autonomous robots (not true AI, obviously) than many people think. The DARPA challenges have brought us leaps and bounds closer.

@zeppelined:
Not to totally open the whole political can of worms here, but "douchebag terrorist dude"?
Not agreeing with someones ideology or motives reduces them to a "douchebag"?
I find the simplification into us/them or black/white far more horrifying.

However farfetched or hard to understand that persons beliefs was, the situation concerning Palestine/Israel is tremendously complex. And name-calling isn't one of the ways we need to go about ending it.

Well, going by the somewhat light hearted query about wanting to see what it does next it could be anything from dancing to throwing a birthday bash. I doubt it would've taken Anna longer than a few seconds to point out it rolls over a corpse and we'll get to see it in full imagery - although knowing her previous writing I suppose that's debatable. Personally, I'm not bothered by the images, I just think common sense would have been to warn people.

@JennaW: It wasn't like we should expect some Terminator or RoboCop action. The guy is already dead -- and the robot isn't equipped with weapons.

From what I remember seeing on the news last night, this was actually the second bomber who was knocked out after another bomber in the crowd set off his device. Israeli police "took care" of the situation after they realized the person in the picture above was repeatedly attempting to activate his detonator.

@zeppelined: We do have a distinction... autonomous. If a robot is autonomous then it's not subject to control from outside sources. Even if it's nothing but programs and equations that allow that independence it's still autonomous.

@Katana_Mind: Blowing up civilians to make your point is the act of at the very least a douchebag. There is no political high ground to be taken with someone who chooses blowing up shoppers as a weapon.

Get the hell off your high horse. You know what? Everyone always says these situations are terribly complex when THEY ARE NOT. They are complex because neither side wants to back down and BOTH SIDES ARE WRONG. One side may be wronger than the other, but fuck that.

Do they have valid complaints? Yes. Is blowing up shoppers the way to address them? Fuck. No.

Ireland -- what was the solution? They finally stopped being *douchebags* and started talking.

From what I understand, there were 2 douchebag terrorists. The first blew himself up and the second, shown here, was injured in the explosion. Paramedics went to treat him when they realized he was a second bomber. So a cop plugged him.

I didn't realize the robot ran him over though!

@Katana_Mind: Yeah. What Jennaw said. If your world is so morally ambiguous you can't see that there is a bright clear line between the black and white of killing innocent people and not killing innocent people, then I just don't know what to say to you. Indeed, we could discuss the complicated political/religious situation at great length, but it is all reduced to meaningless jabber when someone commits murder. But I guess you're ok with that.

@JennaW: qft

@JennaW:
*sigh*
I don't condone his actions.
I merely point out that when we paint anyone in black a lot of other stuff tends to follow with it.
Thus making it easier for The Powers That Be to manipulate that into easy-to-remember soundbytes that later can be regurgitated by the masses.

And while the Situation might not look complex from an outsiders point of view [c'mon guys, all you have to do is to stop fighting, simultaneously] it seldom is to the individual who has experienced it.

@zeppelined:
The world is seldom black/white in my experience. Most often it depends on what side of the fence you're standing on. If there is a fence at all.
Sometimes you're a "terrorist" and sometimes you're a "freedom fighter".
Oh, and thanks for putting words into my mouth.

I encourage you guys at io9.com to do your research on such stories. The "alleged" or "purported" bomber as you claim actually was a bomber who tried to detonate himself after the fact. He got injured by his suicide bomber buddy before he could detonate himself. A moment of research would have shown you that. [www.thesun.co.uk] and you can see a video here: [www.liveleak.com]

@zerodamage: If you really want a site that does it's research I'm afraid your not going to find that here.
It's one of the worse sites around for fact checking, and Anna is probably the worse writer here for it. I've never read one of her articles and believed it to be well researched or even based on the loosest of understanding. Her knowledge pertaining to science fiction in general seems to be limited at best and non-existent at worst as do her skills as a writer or editor.

@JennaW: And you've just managed to rank yourself in my list of people who don't really understand what they are talking about, but make valiant efforts to appear that they do.
Condoning a persons actions is different to asking for a degree of integrity when we examine said actions, by saying that someone is a douche and suggesting a lack of intelligence you do nothing but hurt the issue at hand.
If they are meant to put down their weapons and talk I hope it's with someone better than yourself, otherwise the bombing will never end.

2pic - that's how barrel roll is done!

Do not get me wrong, I love this site and the stories posted. I have my rss feeds for my political sites and entertainment sites separated for a reason. When I read this site, I do not want political bias injected into the story which is all I got from this article. I sense a prejudice against Israel from the author which is not needed or wanted on a science fiction based website.

@PriorMarcus: *eyeroll* on all counts. Also, the knowledge that I'm so lowly ranked by you hurts me. Deeply.

and @Katana_Mind:

Do you two seriously think that a bunch of people calling dead terrorists and those who long to be like the dead terrorists "douchebags" is going to impact any longterm solution to the situation? I suggest you study the Irish situation and how that has recently resolved after not just decades but centuries of intractable us-vs-themishness (outrage fully justified on the Irish side especially; actions absolutely not).

The populace treating the jerks who kept blowing each other up like the douchebags they were did play a part in their change of hearts. The solution doesn't require showing respect to the people too entrenched in the fight to see the bigger picture; it requires bringing them to a sense of how stupid their behavior is. In the long run, if they can't look at the future and realize they are destroying it for their own children by their own actions, nothing will change.

But go ahead and focus on io9 commenters calling terrorists douchebags. I'm sure once that's all stamped out, Palestine will be well on the way to peace.

@zerodamage: "prejudice against Israel" -- wow. I don't even know where to start with that. That was the flattest, just-the-facts set of pictures of a robot and dead guy ever, but somehow, you manage to get offended. If anything, I would say it leans in a pro-Israel direction because the dead guy is Palestinian and the cool SF robot is Israeli.

But seriously, how you're even going there...? *baffled*

THIS is what makes it complicated. People are too entrenched to just call a stupid situation a stupid situation. If you don't present things *just exactly in the right way to please them,* you're biased and evil.

@JennaW: No, your not lowly ranked - I just think you sound like an idiot when you post messages like that.

And it's not about the idea of io9 and others calling terrorist douche bags fueling the problem that annoys, it's that when you do you manage to make this blog, and yourself, look like a biased idiot. Believing their actions are wrong or even believing that they aren't very well thought out is one thing, but using language and implying that it's the work is retarded fools is another.

When I read this article I got the impression that it was only posted so that a bunch of narrow minded people who believe that one situation should be the road map for another could get their kicks seeing the douche bag terrorist being crushed under the cool robot.

It's not science fiction, it's politics, it's not a worthwhile article, it's senseless baiting. It's cool images that have the loosest connection to the subject matter this site is meant to cover.

I actually believe that this could be a worthwhile blog, standing up to it's peers such as Kotaku and Gizmondo, but until the level of writing and worthwhile (relevant) stories improves it's just going to hang in limbo as something that's passable, but overall easily ignored as mediocre.

@JennaW: I've ben lucky enough to be good friends with an Irish Catholic and an Ulster Scot living in Belfast via the interwebs. Both under 22. If an argument of the issues comes up they're still miles from agreeing, but the key to it seems to be that 90% of the young people realize the extremists 'armies' are no longer doing anything but solidifying their power base and drug trafficking. At least since the Troubles. And that type of organized crime mentality, not to mention tiredness of violence, really allows people to at least talk through things, even if they'll never agree.

@Katana_Mind: Well, but even if you accept the relativism of ideologies, it's not such a far-fetched thing to universally decry a particular tactic.

I think part of the problem is exactly when we equate "terrorists" with "freedom fighters," as these are two different things which occasionally overlap--the first represents the use of a particular tactic, the second of an ideology. Sometimes, freedom fighters use terrorism; sometimes they don't. Sometimes, terrorists believe that they are freeing their people, sometimes they have a different goal in mind.

I don't have a problem labeling the tactic of detonating civilians at a shopping mall in order to achieve political gains as universally deplorable.

@JennaW: Your not biased if you present facts wrong, your just bad at your job. Your biased if you decide to post an article that has the loosest ties to science fiction (these robots have existed for years, this isn't some shocking revelation that they are real) because it contains cool pictures of a terrorist body being mangled. Oddly, that still makes you bad at your job too.

@PriorMarcus: See, I got an anti-Israeli feel to it. Maybe I didn't read the descriptions well enough and was just disgusted by the rolling over the dead body. Assuming that this image is intended to give someone jollies might say more about you than about the editorial. Using phrases such as "alleged bomber" lead me to think that the editorial is anti-rolling over dead body and robots can be scary and powerful moreso than 'yeah palestinian dirt bag woo robot!' Also, I give io9 the benefit of the doubt that they're not run by assholes.

@PriorMarcus: Most comments I've read by you on this blog have failed to impress me, so there we are. For someone so in love with the idea of not offending, you do a very good job of being hypercritical and snide. Your superiority complex is blindingly apparent.

That being said, getting all worked up over the word "douchebag" is a RIDICULOUS mountain to die on.

@JennaW: Do. Not. Engage. Smurfbags.

@aspiringexpatriate: Of course. I was speaking of the political improvements primarily; I'm sure there is still much disagreement on the ground, but the fact that they are talking and working together in the political arena rather than supporting the ongoing terrorist activities of both sides is a watershed and very inspiring.

@braak: I am cutting an interview with a terrorism/homeland security expert this week. He basically says that when roadside bombs and other such things kill our soldiers or Iraqi soldiers, it's not terrorism, but when they kill civilians, it is. Course then you have to wonder about how proportions would work for definition of it. And/or the idea that the bombings in Saudi Arabia in 1991 might not technically be terrorism as they bombed a military barracks. The definition is very fluid and very abused by people in power.

@92BuickLeSabre: Thank you. I was done with that last comment anyway, but *salute.*

@aspiringexpatriate: I will admit to being surprised that anti-bomb-robots rolled over people in order to check for explosives. Whether or not it counts as sci-fi, I have to say that it was interesting.

@aspiringexpatriate: It's true. I got into an argument at one point with a friend of mine in the military, who was insisting that IEDs and snipers were the mark of the enemy who were evil, cowards, etc. (she got very worked up about it).

I pointed out that if you dropped fifteen Navy Seals in a city and told them to defend it from an invading army, they'd do exactly the same thing.

I am often a stickler for precise definitions of things, and this is exactly why.

@braak: Interesting, but not 'cool'. Which is why it was posted, interesting and shocking in one go = perfect click-fest. And there are at least two mentions of 'alleged' which lead me to believe Annalee isn't endorsing anyone's actions here.

@braak: Snipers are so not the mark of evil. Snipers have been in use for centuries, and quite perfected by the US. I mean have you see Rambo and Navy Seals and Saving Private Ryan? Snipers are the modern day knights in shining armor. Guerilla warfare and terrorism tend to go hand in hand, but one has to make a distinction. And when does one go from war-crime to terrorism? Or should we do as Gordon Brown suggested in his first speech as PM, and classify terrorism as a crime, and not some ambiguous 'evil' that has to be stopped at all costs like the boogeyman. Yes it's bad, but so is rape and murder. A suicide bomber is simply a mass murderer and those that support him accomplices. Most terrorism doesn't happen in a state of warfare, but in extremist separatist groups. Western civilization has treated the ETA and IRA as straight criminals in courts for the past hundred years, I don't see why it's changed since the US was hit by terrorism on a large scale.