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The killer robot used by Dallas police appears to be a first

Associated Press

Dallas police respond after shots were fired during a protest over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers during protests; several officers were killed, police said. Dallas police respond after shots were fired during a protest over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers during protests; several officers were killed, police said. When Dallas police used a bomb-carrying robot to kill a sniper, they also kicked off an ethical debate about technology's use as a crime-fighting weapon.


Genetic Fuzzy based Artificial Intelligence for Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Control in Simulated Air Combat Missions Open Access

#artificialintelligence

Breakthroughs in genetic fuzzy systems, most notably the development of the Genetic Fuzzy Tree methodology, have allowed fuzzy logic based Artificial Intelligences to be developed that can be applied to incredibly complex problems. The ability to have extreme performance and computational efficiency as well as to be robust to uncertainties and randomness, adaptable to changing scenarios, verified and validated to follow safety specifications and operating doctrines via formal methods, and easily designed and implemented are just some of the strengths that this type of control brings. Within this white paper, the authors introduce ALPHA, an Artificial Intelligence that controls flights of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles in aerial combat missions within an extreme-fidelity simulation environment. To this day, this represents the most complex application of a fuzzy-logic based Artificial Intelligence to an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle control problem. While development is on-going, the version of ALPHA presented withinwas assessed by Colonel (retired)Gene Lee who described ALPHA as "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI (he's) seen-to-date."


Are Robots Still Just "Tools" When They Are Used to Kill?

#artificialintelligence

A robot carrying an explosive device was used to kill one of the shooters in Thursday night's horrific violence in Dallas, Texas, in what many law enforcement and other experts are calling the first such use of robotics technology by U.S. police. Five police officers were killed and seven others were wounded, along with two civilians, during a demonstration protesting the recent deaths of two African-American men at the hands of police in other cities. Micah Johnson, the man suspected of shooting the officers, was killed by remotely detonated explosives on the robot after a standoff and failed negotiations with police. Toby Walsh, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales, cautions against seeing this use of a robot as a nightmarish science-fiction scenario--because the robot was being operated by a human via remote control. "In [that] sense, it was no more taking us down the road to killer robots than the remote-controlled Predator drones flying above the skies of Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere," Walsh told Scientific American in an email.


In a jam

BBC News

Just the sight of a juicy, red strawberry on a bright green stalk conjures up English summertime, Wimbledon and afternoon tea. And the market for British strawberries is growing. But if rules on who can come and work in the UK change following the vote to leave the European Union, who is going to pick them? To pick a ripe strawberry, you don't just yank it. The pickers at Langdon Manor Farm in Kent are astonishingly quick at it.


The day after in Dallas: 'I believe this city will be better and see better days'

Los Angeles Times

Several hundred people filled Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas on Friday for an interfaith service hosted by dozens of clergy. A rabbi spoke, then an imam, a Methodist and a Baptist. A dozen uniformed police looked on, wearing black bars over their badges in honor of their fallen comrades. Mayor Mike Rawlings reminded the crowd when the square was erected: in 1964, a year after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated here, a bloody legacy that would haunt the city for decades. In recent weeks, people gathered in the square to mourn victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.


Dallas Police Believed to Be First to Use Robot Lethally

WSJ.com: WSJD - Technology

The Dallas police's use of a robot to kill a man suspected of shooting police officers may have been the first time U.S. law enforcement intentionally used a robot lethally, two security researchers said Friday. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Friday that officers decided to use a bomb-disposal robot jury-rigged with explosives after negotiating with the suspect for several hours and then exchanging gunfire with him.


Use of robot in Dallas highlights tactical opportunities, ethical questions for police

Los Angeles Times

Negotiators had been talking for hours with the hunkered-down killer of five police officers in downtown Dallas when the man suddenly resumed firing with an assault rifle. Fearing additional casualties, the officers deployed a small, remote-controlled robot to carry an explosive device near shooter Micah Xavier Johnson, which they then detonated, killing him. "We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," Police Chief David Brown said at a news conference Friday morning. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger .โ€ฆ We have confirmed that he's been deceased because of the detonation of the bomb."


The Army's Self-Driving Trucks Hit the Highway to Prepare for Battle

WIRED

As the convoy traveled down Interstate 69, regular Michigan motorists might have not believed they were driving next to the future of warfare. But for all their humdrum khaki looks, these were platooning, semi-autonomous army trucks, moving as one organism. Late last month, the army dropped these four beta trucks into real Michigan traffic, with human drivers aboard as backups. Over seven miles, the vehicles used cameras and LIDAR to watch the road. They used dedicated short-range radio, also known as vehicle-to-vehicle communication, to chat with each other and even with infrastructure Michigan's DOT installed for the purpose, getting advance notice of things like changing speed limits and closed lanes ahead.


Latest: Dallas chief calls shooting of police 'well-planned'

Associated Press

In this still image from video provided by NBC DFW, police officers salute their fallen peers outside Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where several officers were transported after shootings at a protest late Thursday, July 7, 2016. Five Dallas police officers were fatally shot and seven others wounded during a protest over the deaths of black men killed by police this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. It was the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In this still image from video provided by NBC DFW, police officers salute their fallen peers outside Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where several officers were transported after shootings at a protest late Thursday, July 7, 2016. Five Dallas police officers were fatally shot and seven others wounded during a protest over the deaths of black men killed by police this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. It was the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. John Fife hands a police officer guarding Jack Evans Police Headquarters a rose in Dallas on Friday July 8, 2016. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men. Investigators leave the home of Micah Xavier Johnson in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, Texas, Friday, July 8, 2016. A Texas law enforcement official identified Johnson, 25, as the sniper who opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men. Dallas police respond after shots were fired during a protest over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Snipers opened fire on police officers during protests; several officers were killed, police said.


Federal Register Request for Information on Artificial Intelligence

#artificialintelligence

As a part of this initiative, the Federal Government is working to leverage AI for public good and to aid in promoting more effective government. OSTP is in the process of co-hosting four public workshops in 2016 on topics in AI in order to spur public dialogue on these topics and to identify challenges and opportunities related to this emerging technology. These topics include the legal and governance issues for AI, AI for public good, safety and control for AI, and the social and economic implications of AI. A new National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence has also been established. This group will monitor state-of-the-art advances and technology milestones in artificial intelligence and machine learning within the Federal Government, in the private sector, and internationally, as well as help coordinate Federal activity in this space.