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back to article 'WALL-E' robot grunt obeys military hand signals

American robo-profs have developed control software which will allow the droid ground-troops of tomorrow to be controlled by their fleshy comrades using standard military hand signals. You know in the movies, where the soldiers are creeping about on patrol and they raise a hand to halt the column or get it moving again? Now …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Hand signals

    Love to see the hand signal for "terminate the first born male child in every family".

    Can hear the testers comments now..

    hand signal... hand signal.. "ahh damn he's ripped the captains nads off again!"

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Should be ok if...

    So long as the droid army's central computer can be shut down by a couple of Proton Torpedoes, we should all be fine...

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  3. Eugene Goodrich
    Paris Hilton

    Logical mistake

    [[It would seem only a matter of time until more advanced concepts like "root out cowering meatsacks" or "terminate the first born male child in every family" can be conveyed.]]

    The point of code signals is they separate the complexity of a concept being described from the difficulty in conveying it. If the robot can understand a lifted arm for "stop", it can understand a down-bent-arm for e.g. "fetch me six pints of ice-cold from across the street."

    Paris, because the robot reminds me of her.

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  4. Brian Miller

    Actual Army hand signals

    I truly doubt that the unit follows the hand signals that are actually used. When I was in, the most frequently used hand signal wasn't in the manuals.

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  5. robert cooke

    Good to see...

    that the Reg is keeping us abreast of the RotM revolution. Can I have a new keyboard please, as this one is now full of coffee, i haven't laughed so much ion ages.

    Thanks Reg!

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    more like...

    Johnny 5!

    'Hey laser-lips, your mothers a snowblower'

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  7. Christoph

    But what is the command signal for

    EXTERMINATE

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    First command ...

    ... would be "locate can of WD40", although I'm not sure what the hand gesture for that would be.

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  9. Graham Marsden
    Joke

    He's behiiiind you...!

    ... Oh no he isn't...!

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  10. Eddy Ito
    Black Helicopters

    It runs away?

    It backs away when someone walks toward it, what kind of warrior bot is that? Then again it could be making sure the fleshy can't reach the 1/0 switch... Oh yeah, here's a hand gesture for ya!

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  11. J

    ..deja vu..

    My wife uses the same hand signals with me when we go to the shopping mall ... now I know what they mean!

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  12. John Smith Gold badge
    Coat

    "terminate the first born male child in every family"

    Too Jewish

    Mine's the one with a copy of Blazing Saddles in the pocket

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  13. Lukin Brewer
    Joke

    Like the ancestor of the sentry bots in Doom 3.

    How soon before it is able to detect (and shoot) possessed marines? Or aliens masquerading as humans like in The Invaders or V? Or lizard overlords? Or Google Streetview cars? Or Kevin "Captain Cyborg" Warwick? Or vultures masquerading as humans like in the Register's editorial office? I think we should all be told. (I also think we should all get ready to duck!)

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  14. Ross Bradley
    Black Helicopters

    Hmmm... Chipped monkey brains

    nah.. The real future is in bio-engineered cuttlefish... http://xkcd.com/520/

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  15. Robin
    Happy

    Get Help!

    This thing would've been handy in the Father Ted episode where they get stuck in the women's lingerie department.

    "Terminate all non-priests" or something.

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  16. Erik Aamot

    this is primitive

    come on .. this is footage from 1999 or there abouts .. a joke .. right ?

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  17. Argus Tuft
    Paris Hilton

    a female version

    could be interesting........

    [Paris for the obvious reasons]

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    will it accept also signal by ...

    ... the enemy?

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  19. TeeCee Gold badge
    Joke

    @Lukin Brewer

    Doom 3 Sentrybots going after Google Streetview cars?

    <popcorn>

    <beer>

    <sofa>

    Roll film please.

    A one-act comedy with added .30-cal slaughterfest action. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

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  20. Colonel Panic

    Coming soon from Cyberdine Systems

    What's the hand signal for "find Sara Connor" ?

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  21. Paul

    So...

    ...what is the hand-signal for "Food riot in progress, approximately fifteen-hundred civilians. No weapons evident. Proceed with plan Alpha, eliminate anything moving."

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  22. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    Hand gestures in the battle field?

    It's a command.

    First syllable.

    Little word.

    A An And At - AT!

    Second word - sounds like behind? Sounds like reverse? Sounds like back! SOUNDS LIKE BACK!

    RACK, uh SACK, HACk, JACK , Tack - TACK! ATTACK!!!

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  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shouldn't . . .

    . . . take them long to get it to understand the signals for 'come here' and 'come quickly' . . .

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  24. Tim
    Thumb Up

    One problem....

    If a marine can halt it by raising an arm, surely an insurgent can do the same?

    Thumbs up because the fonz would want a robot like that!

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  25. Bob Carter
    Happy

    What about...

    Now if they just add a rack for my golf clubs and they might have a winner.......

    ..then again how would it interpret my golf swing ?

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  26. Rachel

    @Tim

    Actually, this doesn't seem to be such a problem - if you watched the clip, you saw the robot follow a girl, then she walked into a room, but it didn't follow the man walking out of the room later. Maybe it can be programmed to respond to 'user x' and not anyone else? Or, for a more practical application in the field, anyone wearing the proper BDU's?

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