io9: skynet

Light Bulb Runs On Human Blood

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:30:00 PDT

This new lamp requires some of your blood to keep the lights on, because it uses luminol, a chemical that reacts with the iron in blood to create the glow. Thus giving the robots one more reason to revolt. [LiveScience ]

Countdown Science Fiction's 10 Most Murderous Robots

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:00:00 PDT

It's one thing to talk about Killer Robots, but which ones have actually managed to really rack up the senseless slaughter? Here are our choices for the ten deadliest robots for you to avoid.

Now, we know that this list is going to upset more than a few of you (Especially if you disliked the three Star Wars prequels), but we're not ranking these killer robots in order of awesome - Because then you would have seen IG-88 and KARR, amongst others - nor even in order of evil, but literally in terms of estimated kill-rate. Which robot has killed the most living things? That's all we're interested in.

So, get started with the countdown, and feel free to dispute our choices in the comments. Just don't send a robot after us, to change our minds.

Could'a Been Contenders...

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:35 PDT

Wondering where Daleks, Cybermen and the Borg are? They're over in the "Do cyborgs really count as robots?" corner, although it's arguably worth pointing out that Daleks aren't really robots at all, just aliens inside weirdly-shaped suits of armor... that may as well be robots for all we actually care. I'm sure there will be arguments about this, nonetheless. Also missing from the list: The Decepticons, who must've killed many people during their various toy, cartoon, comic and movie reigns of terror, but none that I can remember in "real" continuity (Which is to say, All Hail Megatron doesn't count, because it's intentionally an "alternate reality" story). Also also missing is Brainiac, who has just been retconned again into being as organic as robotic, sadly.

Who else have we missed? Tell all here.

#1: The Manhunters

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:30 PDT

How deadly are they? They destroyed all life within Space Sector 666 because of a "programming glitch." How big is a Space Sector? Unknown, although the entire universe is split into at least 3601 of them, and Final Crisis claims that there are "thousands of worlds" within Earth's sector. So let's just say that's a lot of life extinguished.
Who's responsible? The Guardians of the Universe, the immortal blue dwarves who'd learn from the mistake of creating unstoppable killing machines and try and fix it by creating weapons of almost limitless potential and giving them to living beings... before embarrassing them by calling them Green Lanterns. As you can tell, that one worked out much better, at least commercially.
Last seen... hooking up with the fear-filled Sinestro Corps in 2006's The Sinestro Corps War, although you can probably expect to see them in this summer's Blackest Night crossover series from DC Comics at some point.

Next: See who didn't make the list.

#2: Unicron

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:27 PDT

How deadly is he? He eats planets for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And if they're populated, all the better; it adds texture, apparently.
Who's responsible? It very much depends who you ask; Unicron has been given multiple histories throughout the years, including being a fallen god who somehow became a robot, a murderous robot exiled from his home planet or the much more common "his origins are lost to the mists of time." Given that all of the Transformers' origins are a little nebulous (Someone had to have built the first Transformer, right? But who?), it's possibly best not to dwell on this point for too long.
Last seen... Being destroyed by Galvatron (of all robots) and his body folding itself into a black hole called The Unicron Singularity in Transformers: Cybertron.

Next: Science Fiction's Most Killhappy Robots!

#3: The Cylons

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:25 PDT

How deadly are they? They destroyed the twelve colonies of humanity, committing genocide on a scale unimaginable to everyone except Glen A. Larson and Ron Moore.
Who's responsible? It depends on which version you're asking about. The original series had the robots built by a dying alien race also called cylons, whereas the recent reboot gave them a backstory not unlike The Matrix's robot overlords (Built by humans as worker drones before rebelling and starting war).
Last seen... restarting the human race by populating Earth, millions of years ago, in this year's Battlestar Galactica season finale.

Next: Planet-Eating Robots!

#4: Separatist Battle Droids

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:23 PDT

How deadly are they? Apparently, an unstoppable killing machine that continually causes trouble for the Republic and their Jedi forces during the many years of Star Wars' Clone Wars. Despite their apparent ineffectualness, the war continued for many years, therefore the estimated high kill-rate and higher ranking on this list. Sorry, prequel haters.
Who's responsible? The dully-named Trade Federation Army and Confederacy of Independent Systems, who seceded from the Galactic Republic and then tried to convince others to do so with the help of trigger-happy idiot drones who like to kill things. But let's face it, it's all really Senator Palpatine's doing, considering he was the one pulling all the strings behind the scenes in the first place.
Last seen... standing down after Darth Vader killed the Federation's leaders in 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

Next: Genocidal Robots With A Plan!

#5: Skynet/The Terminators

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:21 PDT

How deadly are they? They took over the Earth and are pretty much trying to destroy all human life, starting with a successful nuclear annihilation of three million people. You've seen The Terminator movies, right?
Who's responsible? The military. Sure, you could blame original creators Cyberdyne Systems, but I'm blaming the bulk of the problems on the US military, who took over the Skynet project when Cyberdyne was destroyed. They wanted to create the ultimate defense system, after all; why didn't they foresee that it would decide that they were the threats that it needed defending from?
Last seen... making life difficult for John Connor and friends in Terminator: Salvation.

Next: Ineffectual-But-Deadly Droids!

#6: Sentinels (The Matrix)

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:19 PDT

How deadly are they? They took over the Earth and keep humans around only as batteries. Which, you know, is potentially an environmentally solution to the whole need for energy (Although they did start out with solar power.
Who's responsible? Humanity en masse. The robots that ended up taking over the world started out as domestic help and cheap labor to handle the jobs that we didn't; it was only after it was decided that robots had no legal rights that they decided to get nasty.
Last seen... coming to peaceful terms with what was left of humanity on a pretty-much destroyed Earth in The Matrix Revolutions.

Next: Time-Traveling Murder Machines!

#7: Sentinels (Marvel Comics)

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:17 PDT

How deadly are they? They almost eradicated the mutant race, killing millions in one afternoon's work by destroying the island of Genosha. There's also a much-visited future where the Sentinels have taken over the world and killed the X-Men and many other superheroes.
Who's responsible? Humanity's intolerance and fear. Oh, and Dr. Bolivar Trask, a man who saw mutants as a threat to humanity and decided to build a collection of giant robots dedicated to genocide just in case. Subsequent models have come from the US government, the Norse God Loki and the Sentinels themselves, amongst many others who wanted to get involved in the killing game.
Last seen... as nano-Sentinels escaping after a killing spree during 2007's "Messiah Complex" storyline in the X-Men comics.

Next: Eco-Friendly Killbots!

#8: Ultron

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:15 PDT

How deadly is he? He singlehandedly slaughtered the inhabitants of the fictional European nation of Slorernia, before enslaving the alien robot race the Phalanx and taking over countless planets as a result, for his own nefarious ends.
Who's responsible? Hank Pym (the superhero known as Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket and, currently, the Wasp) built the original Ultron as a lab experiment in AI, but it was a little too successful; rebelling against Pym, Ultron has been responsible for all of his subsequent rebuilds and remodels.
Last seen... apparently being destroyed by Quasar and Adam Warlock at the end of 2008's Annihilation: Conquest crossover. But that never lasts.

Next: Mutant-Hunting Robots!

#9: ABC Warriors

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:12 PDT

How deadly are they? As deadly as you want them to be; in the future's Volgan war (When the west goes to war with the fictional Russian-analog "Volgan Republic"), human soldiers are slowly replaced by robots created to fight wars. Slowly enough, in fact, that the ABC Warriors get more than a few kills in before the war ends, at which point they get to kill some more people while - at various times - rebelling against their makers, terraforming Mars, assassinating people for chaos magic rituals and getting involved in other unlikely scrapes.
Who's responsible? The military brains of the western alliance and the Volgans. Both sides came up with their own robot soldiers, giving them artificial intelligence, advanced weaponry and no immediately-obvious off switch.
Last seen... in a robotic mental asylum on Mars, reminiscing about their wartime struggles in 2000AD's current "The Volgan War" storyline.

Next: The Self-repairing Murderbot!

#10: Mechagodzilla

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:10 PDT

How deadly is he? He rampages continually against Japan and fights Godzilla on a regular basis, with his laser eyes and flamethrower breath. I'm guessing there's got to be some level of collateral damage going on there. Also, he kills giant monsters, which can come in handy.
Who's responsible? Originally alien monkeys the Simians (who built him as a tool to help them achieve world domination), but humanity keeps finding itself rebuilding Mecha over and over again, apparently forgetful of the fact that he keeps on destroying parts of cities.
Last seen... disappearing to the bottom of the ocean to ensure Godzilla's death in 2003's Tokyo SOS.

Next: Robot Warriors!

Terminator Embraces The iPhone/Twitter Technology That Will Enslave Us All

Meredith Woerner — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:05:37 PDT

Terminator Salvation is not only embracing the iPhone, they've also launched an elaborate Twitter game. Isn't turning us into slaves of the machines exactly what Skynet wants?

This sudden and aggressive embrace of modern day technology is completely irresponsible, it's just like the time they brought a full-sized Terminator into San Diego Comic Con. Don't they know the machines are trying to manipulate us like cattle?

The "terminate me" iPhone App allows you to turn anyone into a damaged cyborg, with metal and red eyes showing beneath the artificial skin. It reminds me a little of the cylon detector app - but I'll give a special emoticon wink to the first person who can upload a baby duck terminator.

Now the upcoming movie Terminator Salvation has come to Twitter, with the recent launch of the Resistance2018 game. The premise: Twitter users can help in the fight against Skynet and the Terminators, earning points that bump them up the leaderboard, for... actually, I'm not really sure what. But I'm rather skeptical about becoming Twitter buds with all the Resistance fighters. I'm not too keen on reading John Connor tweets that he's "totally loling at Bizkit the Sleepwalking dog."

Robot Ants Will Pave the Way for Martian Colony

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:20:00 PDT

When the first human colonists arrive on Mars, they could find a nice warm science lab and living quarters waiting for them, all built by thousands of tiny ant-size robots working and thinking collectively. European researchers are hard at work developing swarms of autonomous microbots. They can also do some other neat things aside from colonizing other planets, such as joining together to form larger robots, just like the Constructicons. Form Devastator!

The robots are being developed as part of the European Union's I-SWARM program. At this point in their research, they have assembled groups of 100 robots (their official term for these groups seems to be posse, which seems hilarious for some reason) that can communicate with each other and team up to perform tasks too large for a single bot. In one example, a robot runs into an obstacle, and shortly thereafter a bunch of other robots show up to move it out of the way. The plan is to create robots that can reconfigure themselves based on the situation at hand, or even combine with other robots to form more complex machines.

So far, they have tiny robots (pictured) that carry two kilobytes of RAM and move by vibration, and larger robots, called Jasmines, that roll around on little wheels. In addition to their Martian construction duties, the robots could be used as repair teams inside larger machines (like the Nanites on the Satellite of Love) or even medical robots that crawl around fixing things inside people. Throw in the fact that these robots will surely someday escape human control and form bizarre, hostile microbot societies, and I think it's safe to give this the H.G. Wells Award for Scientific Research Most Likely To Result In a Science Fiction Novel or Movie Coming True. Image by: I-SWARM.
Robotic Ants Building Homes On Mars? [Science Daily]

Air Force Plans Fully Armed, Fully Autonomous Robot Plane

Ed Grabianowski — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PDT

It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. And, also, the U.S. Air Force is thinking of building a few of them - unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability, armed to the robotic teeth with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) missiles and equipped with YARA (Yet Another Rad Acronym). But, much like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Aurora Excalibur has a softer, friendlier side as well.

Aurora's Excalibur VTOL UAV is intended to have fully automated flight systems. It will know its mission and complete without remote operator control. One of those missions could be operating as a tactical strike platform, wielding Hellfire missiles, Viper Strike missiles, and the aforementioned APKWS. Technically, only the flight controls will be automated - an operator will be paying attention to target acquisition (and, one would imagine, target explosition). Still, seeing the words "robot" and "Hellfire" together is a little chilling.

On the bright side, it could also be sent in to recover wounded soldiers, airlifting them out of sticky situations without diverting the attention of a remote pilot. Small special ops teams (like, Delta Force) could even use Excaliburs for fast, light ingress and egress. It's amazing what you can do with hybrid turbine-electric propulsion these days. Small scale tests are planned for late this year. Image by: Aurora.

Firm Building Man-carrying VTOL Drone. [Military.com]

Zephyr Shatters Robot Plane Endurance Record

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:00:00 PDT

The U.S. military wants to have robotic eyes in the sky constantly roving and watching what goes on below, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They might achieve that capability very soon, as a test vehicle called the Zephyr just obliterated the old endurance record for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), nearly tripling the previous record. How did the Zephyr stay aloft for so long?

Back in April, we told you about the old record setter, a Global Hawk that flew for more than 30 hours. The Global Hawk still holds the "official" record because QinetiQ, the company that produced the Zephyr, didn't invite the Federation Aeronautique Internationale to the test. Apparently, they're more interested in Department of Defense contracts than earning the FAI seal of approval.

Official or not, the Zephyr's achievement is astonishing. It stayed in the air, operated by autopilot or remotely via satellite, for 82 hours and 37 minutes. It managed such a feat of endurance by combining an ultralight carbon-fiber airframe with highly efficient solar panels and batteries. The solar arrays cover virtually every wing surface, yet are no thicker than paper. During the day, they provide enough power for the Zephyr to fly, plus enough extra to charge the batteries. The lithium-sulfur batteries hold enough juice to keep the Zephyr flying through the night. Ultimately, aircraft based on the Zephyr will be fitted with surveillance equipment and flown at high altitudes to keep a perpetual, unblinking watch over whatever the DoD deems worthy of the attention. Image by: QinetiQ.

QinetiQ's Zephyr UAV flies for three and a half days to set unofficial world record for longest duration unmanned flight. [QineticQ]

Sarah Connor Starts Blogging

Graeme McMillan — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:30:00 PDT

For all your Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles internet needs, you don't have to rely on us anymore — but, please, continue to do so anyway — because the writers and producers behind the Fox drama are now blogging themselves at Take Back The Future, and promising to not just tell you all manner of backstage gossip about the show, but also answer any questions you may have: "Take Back the Future is the two-way highway connecting you, the fan, and us, the show. It’s the Skynet mainframe with no network interference," they say. But, you know, a nice Skynet mainframe. [Take Back the Future]

Sarah Connor Has Failed — the British Just Built Skynet

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:00:00 PDT

With the launch of a new communications satellite, the British military has completed a highly advanced network that will allow robotic military units to be controlled at long range. Sound vaguely familiar? They actually named the thing Skynet. When the T-1000s come knocking, keep an eye out for the "Made in UK" sticker.

Skynet 5 is the latest iteration of a global communications system deployed by the British Armed Forces. The final satellite in the system was launched this week, and will allow high-bandwidth telecommunications between British forces located anywhere in the world. In addition to voice communications, it will allow data transfer and the remote control of robot airplanes, one of which is called "The Reaper." One of the manufacturers was quoted by BBC News as saying:

So, computers can talk directly to computers.

Are you terrified yet? It gets better. The system is actually privately owned and developed - the British Armed Forces are only promised a portion of the bandwidth as part of the contract. The one reassuring aspect is that the company is not called Cyberdyne.
Seriously, what the hell? Is it British humor to name something like this Skynet, or bureaucratic idiocy? Might as well get to work on the self-awareness chip and the "really angry at humans" algorithm. Image by: BBC News.

Final Skynet satellite launched. [BBC News]

Robot Planes Target Smithsonian

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:00:00 PDT

A squadron of six robot planes are now perpetually buzzing visitors to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, performing "reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition," and possibly even attacks. Or at least, they would be if they weren't part of the new exhibit celebrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This is one of the most cutting-edge displays you can see at the Smithsonian - some of the planes even have certain parts sealed because they are still classified.

All six planes were developed for the U.S. military, and some of them flew major recon and combat missions in the Middle East.

Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar, a stealthy recon plane.
AeroVironment RQ-14A Dragon Eye, a hand-launched camera plane.
RQ-2A Pioneer, a recon plane that a number of Iraqi soldiers surrendered to in the first Gulf War, the first time anyone ever surrendered to a robot.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. MQ-1L Predator A, a recon plane that has fired missiles in combat situations.
AAI Corporation Shadow 200, another recon plane. The plane on exhibit is called the Screamin Demon and flew missions in Iraq until 2005.
Boeing X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS), one of two scaled down flight test models. This plane is the first built with the intent of using it in a combat role.

Images by: Smithsonian Air and Space and U.S. Air Force.
Exhibitions On View: Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). [Smithsonian]