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 @ISIDEWITHNewsDaily DiscussionRussiaVladimir PutindronesVolodymyr ZelenskiyRobotsUkraine•••1yr ago

Ukrainian Officials See Ground Robots As ‘Game Changer’ In War

Ukrainian officials are receiving an increasing amount of applications from robotics vendors who want their systems tested for utility in combat, a sign that unmanned ground capabilities are growing in importance amid the relative stalemate along the front line with Russia.

Officials at Brave1, a government defense-technology hub tasked with getting new capabilities field-ready, announced that more than 50 ground robotic systems and more 140 unmanned ground vehicles have been submitted for evaluation.

“Hundreds of them will be procured through United24 to strengthen the Ukrainian army on the battlefield in a few months – UGVs will become the next game changer in this war, [like] drones already have,” a March 12 Brave1 statement circulated on the organization’s social media channels said. United24 is Ukrainian government-run platform for collecting donations for the embattled country.

In the last year, an increasing number of these types of platforms have emerged on the battlefield, being used and tested for a widening array of missions. Ukrainian social media channels recently published footage reportedly showing a UGV capable of laying six anti-tank mines at a time.

In pictures posted online by Brave1, a variety of small-scale tracked and wheeled ground robots are seen on the move, armed with guns, evacuating injured dummies and equipped with what appears to be mine-detection equipment.

55 Replies

 @ISIDEWITHasked…1yr1Y

Would you support your country's military using ground robots in battle, and why or why not?

 @9KWNXH7 from Michigan  commented…1yr1Y

They are setting our country up for failure.

 @9KWNTYN from Minnesota  commented…1yr1Y

I am not quite sure, and would have to look into the topic more to find a viewpoint on this.

 @9KWNDLVConstitution from Michigan  commented…1yr1Y

I think having robots fight our battles would be a great idea, without having human emotion or insticts to tell the robot to turn around or run or surender it would lead to a better battle. and less human lives loss

 @9KWVNHCPeace and Freedom from Louisiana  commented…1yr1Y

I would not support the military but it is not my choice and I hope they would do what is best for America.

 @ISIDEWITHasked…1yr1Y

Do you think the use of ground robots in combat makes war more or less ethical?

 @9KWRT94commented…1yr1Y

War is inherently unethical. You could argue for either side, really.

 @9KWSJD7 from Pennsylvania  commented…1yr1Y

More ethical. The less human lives lost fighting a rich man’s war, the better.

 @9KWRY8GIndependentcommented…1yr1Y

no because war is not ethical no matter what

 @9KWRTDWcommented…1yr1Y

Well, depends on severity and the lengths taken.

 @ISIDEWITHasked…1yr1Y

If robots are doing the fighting, what emotions does that provoke when considering the value of human life versus robot 'life'?

 @9KWPDJM from Illinois  commented…1yr1Y

I think that everyone wants robots now to take over the human acts

 @9KWTJ94Republican from Pennsylvania  commented…1yr1Y

I think that at some point, us humans will lose all will to fight and be scared of the concept of war, but I am fine with the usage and help of robots in terms of drones, planes, tanks, etc.

 @9KWTRCQRepublican from New Hampshire  commented…1yr1Y

People are going to end up empathizing for the robots and it will tear the world apart more than it currently is.

 @9KWTJCGJustice party member from Pennsylvania  commented…1yr1Y

Robots have no morality, and that takes away from military training. It is unhealthy and provokes the usage of robots in our every day lives.

 @UncommonLocustGreenfrom New Jersey  disagreed…1yr1Y

This is a key piece of the emerging dystopian future where human error and false assumptions are written in code and executed at lightning speed without any human governance. The idea that entire populations could be held hostage to machines controlled by a few is the logical end point of this technology.

Be afraid.

 @RobustUnanimousSocialistfrom North Carolina  agreed…1yr1Y

Of course killer robots are the perfect solution to disloyal working class soldiers who might decide to disobey orders and not shoot their families and friends.

 @MotivatedRedStatePeace and Freedomfrom Texas  commented…1yr1Y

There is no point in creating killing machines to kill other machines. These tools are going to be used to control civilians. These tools, combined with the rise of authoritarian governments, should give people a reason to be concerned and demand a resolution regarding the use of autonomous or drone warfare against civilians. Ideally the resolution should be passed before they are used, unlike the resolutions against chemical and nuclear warfare, which were only passed due to widespread horror and condemnation.

 @M0derateRaisinsNo Labelsfrom Texas  agreed…1yr1Y

We seem dead set on getting to a point where we can treat war as one giant real world video game. The more technology progresses the happier I am that I’m old and will be long gone before most if this comes to fruition.

 @FreeTradeJellyfishNo Labelsfrom Maine  commented…1yr1Y

The next step is when independent AI weapons have to decide whether to take out the enemy's independent AI weapons. Eventually there may be no humans on battlefields. There would be a lot of destruction, but no loss of human life. But if countries are just destroying each other's robots, why not use virtual robots instead of real ones. Will war become a giant video game but with real results?

 @SolidSquirrelSocialist from Arkansas  agreed…1yr1Y

How many young American men and women died or were permanently disabled because we didn't mount weapons on drone platforms in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today there is no reason an American soldier should walk openly in a hostile environment. AI should be reserved for defensive purposes.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…8mos8MO

Horror in Northern Gaza: U.S. Questions Israel After Civilians Slaughtered in Residential Attack

An Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza killed dozens of people early Tuesday, the territory’s emergency service said, in the latest attack to cause mass casualties in the area since Israel renewed its offensive against Hamas in the north.The Palestinian Civil Defense, the emergency service, said at least 55 people were killed in the strike in the town of Beit Lahia. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 93 people were dead, including 25 children. The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “aware of reports that civilians were harmed” in the town and was looking into the details.Matt Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesman, called the strike “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result” and said the Biden administration had contacted the Israeli government to ask what happened.Israeli forces renewed their offensive in northern Gaza this month, saying they were trying to stem a regrouping of Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.The strike comes days after another Israeli attack on a residential block in Beit Lahia that left dozens of people killed or wounded, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense. The Israeli military confirmed the strike on Sunday, saying that the air force had “conducted a precise strike” targeting Hamas fighters.An overnight Israeli airstrike hit another residential building in the town on Oct. 20, killing dozens of people, Palestinian officials and emergency workers said.Roughly 400,000 people remain in northern Gaza, according to the United Nations, and many have been trapped in their ruined neighborhoods.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…8mos8MO

Death, Denial, and Silence: Inside China’s Push to Bury Zhuhai’s Devastating SUV Attack

Outside the sports center in the southern city of Zhuhai where a 62-year-old man had plowed an S.U.V. into a crowd, killing at least 35 people, workers on Wednesday quickly removed bouquets of flowers left by grieving residents. Uniformed police officers and officials in plainclothes shooed away bystanders and warned them not to take photos. At hospitals where patients were taken after the attack — at least 43 more people were injured — local officials sat outside the intensive care units, blocking journalists from speaking with family members.On the Chinese internet, censors were mobilized to delete videos, news articles and commentaries about the attack. Almost 24 hours had passed before officials divulged details about the assault, which happened on Monday, including the death toll. Their statement offered limited details, and they have held no news conferences.The response was a precise enactment of the Chinese government’s usual playbook after mass tragedies: Prevent any nonofficial voices, including eyewitnesses and survivors, from speaking about the event. Spread assurances of stability. Minimize public displays of grief.The goal is to stifle potential questions and criticism of the authorities, and force the public to move on as quickly as possible. And to a large degree, it appeared to be working.Though many residents of Zhuhai, the city of 2.4 million where the attack happened, were clearly shaken, they said on Wednesday they had not questioned the delay in information, attributing it to the government’s need to first sort out what had happened. A steady stream of people arrived by foot or taxi to lay flowers at the sports center’s entrance, but when officials took away the flowers and told the people not to linger, they quickly complied.Local governments have also vowed in recent months to spend more time screening for people who have experienced “failures,” after a spate of violent attacks, including several cases in which schoolchildren were stabbed.But officials were also clearly on the lookout for any deeper scrutiny of the Zhuhai killings. Videos and photos of the scene of the attack showed only as grayed-out squares on Weibo, a social media platform. Blog posts urging people not to treat violent attacks as isolated incidents, but rather to look deeper for potential social causes, disappeared.

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