Recreational robot shooting

[Video Link] "The Guns & Gardens crew launches a new reality show called Doomsday Design. In this episode we test the remote hunter killer target drone. Can the drone track and shoot an intruder? Will the drone's armor plating stand up the our AR15, SKS, 12 Gauge, .45 and more?"

• [Incipient Madness]

  In the first part where the drone was supposed to shoot a person, I don’t think tehy did a realistic test. When the prey dude was hiding behind that tree, couldn’t he have just jumped to the side of it and held onto it to keep it from firing and then flip the whole thing over? 

• [HubrisSonic]

  EXTERMINATE!

• [Mister44]

  I wish all of my weekends stared out with “We loaded up our guns and robots into our trucks…”

• [noahmckinnon]

  Not quite the “Death Probe” from The Six Million Dollar Man, but it’s a start

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Check out the movie “Gog” which features a pair of pyramidal robots (Gog and Magog) which were designed to operate a nuclear reactor, so of course they have dangerous clawed arms.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_(film)

    I’ve looked for clips a few times, but nothing’s ever made it to youtube.

    I was so disappointed when I grew up and realized every lab did not have a flamethrower. 

    • [lysdexia]

      “It is the third episode in Ivan Tors’ Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) trilogy, following The Magnetic Monster and Riders to the Stars.”

      Didn’t Steve Austin work for OSI? There are wheels within wheels.

• [Preston Sturges]

  The real danger of drones would not be in chasing people down, but in sitting passively, acquiring and shooting targets a mile away under all conditions, then relocating occasionally and sporadically launching a few 12 gauge incendiaries  against soft targets.  A few of those per square mile would terrorize  a population.  

  The main drone counter guerrilla weapon would be the Mosin Nagant bolt action and similar .30 caliber bolt action rifles, but also pit traps, deadfalls like when they dropped the railroad carriage on a Terminator,  snares such as cargo and cammo nets, and entanglement traps made of concertina wire which would be completely impassable to a small vehicle.  Fire would also be effective. A meter deep mud pit covered with sawdust and leaves to create a quicksand effect would be very effective because even if the robot escaped it would be covered with muck and it’s sensors would be degraded even if they were undamaged.

  Of course the other strategy would be a much smaller and agile bot, something weighing a couple pounds with wheels but the ability to wind a spring and leap.  This could  literally chase people down, and kill them with a  very light weapon like a pepper spray dispenser loaded with sarin gas and maybe a suicide charge.

  • [Michael Smith]

     Or maybe drop a tarp over it and mess with the sensors that way.

    • [Preston Sturges]

      In case of a close up attack on the drone, I would suggest a Claymore  mine on each side.  This could be used defensively or offensively, but if the drone was being swarmed by primitive weapons, fire all of them. 

      • [travtastic]

         Claymores would only really be useful if you don’t mind your robot suiciding. Minimum safe distance to the rear is normally stated as 16 meters.

  • [chf64]

    Why would you pick the Mosin?  The ballistics of a 7.62x54r are marginally better (something like +200 J and the heaviest round is only 7 grains more than the heaviest 7.62×51) than a 7.62×51 but the case is larger and heavier and armor piercing rounds would be harder to scrounge as the round is not standard in the U.S.  If you live in Russia then maybe…

    • [Preston Sturges]

      The 7.62x54r is a big step up from the 7.62×39 and is cheap and abundant. But yeah sometimes you see surplus 7.62×51 armor piercing for sale. 
      The other choice  would probably be some 3″ 12 g sabot load designed for taking down grizzlies.  Did you know a 240 g  .44 mag will bounce right off a big bear skull? 

• [Artor]

  They keep calling it a drone, but it’s remote controlled. I was expecting to see an autonomous drone tracking & shooting by itself. Fun stuff, but it fails as a drone.

  • [Mister44]

     I’ve seen autonomous sentry guns set up before that can track and target moving targets (ala Aliens). And autonomous vehicles are real now – and consumer readiness is just over the horizon. I bet with in 5 years they could make a bot like that in their garage.

    • [Preston Sturges]

      The Israelis have their remote controlled antipersonel border guns that are also apparently capable of autonomous operation, but since they are used in low intensity areas with mixed populations, they don’t use that auto mode. 

      • [Michael Smith]

         Presumably the religion sensor needs further development.

  • [Guest]

    deleted

• [Tony_Moore]

  all i want is A) to have free time, and B) to spend it like this.

• [malindrome]

  Now that was hardly fair.  The drone gets paintballs but the humans get actual firearms!  One day the robots will get real weapons and then there will be some changes around here.

• [HahTse]

  Seems to have the old Dalek problem, aka: stairs and other non-flat ground.

  • [Jonathan Roberts]

    Or the old-Dalek problem..

• [Tom]

  America, FUCK YEAH!

• [krazmo]

  I like how the safety nazi wasn’t bothering to wear eye protection while shooting a steel target.

  Also, they need real hardened armor plate, like ar500, not recycled mild steel, if they really want the thing to be bullet proof. Even then, steel core or tungsten core surplus would punch through.

  http://www.chapelsteel.com/ar500-ar500f.html