Creating killer robots is a very, very bad idea. The nightmare of progress: will killer robots be banned?

Company Clearpath Robotics was founded six years ago by three college friends who shared a passion for making things. The company's 80 specialists are testing rough-terrain robots like Husky, a four-wheeled robot used by the US Department of Defense.

They also make drones and even built a robotic boat called Kingfisher. However, there is one thing they will never build for sure: a robot that can kill.

Clearpath is the first and so far only robotics company to pledge not to create killer robots. The decision was made last year by the company's co-founder and CTO, Ryan Garipay, and in fact attracted experts to the company who liked Clearpath's unique ethical stance.

Husky

Ethics of robot companies Lately comes to the forefront. You see, we have one foot in the future where killer robots exist. And we are not yet ready for them.

Of course, there is still a long way to go. Korean Dodam systems, for example, is building an autonomous robotic turret called Super aEgis II. It uses thermal imaging cameras and laser rangefinders to identify and attack targets at a distance of up to 3 kilometers. The US is also reportedly experimenting with autonomous missile systems.

Two steps away from the Terminators

Military drones like the Predator are currently piloted by humans, but Garipay says they will become fully automatic and autonomous very soon. And this worries him. Very. “Deadly autonomous weapons systems could be rolling off the assembly line now. But lethal weapons systems that will be made in accordance with ethical standards are not even in the plans.”

For Garipay, the problem is international rights. In war, there are always situations in which the use of force seems necessary, but it can also endanger innocent bystanders. How to create killer robots that will take right decisions in any situation? How can we determine for ourselves what the right decision should be?

We are already seeing similar problems in the example of autonomous transport. Let's say a dog runs across the road. Should a robot car swerve to avoid hitting a dog but putting its passengers at risk? What if it’s not a dog, but a child? Or a bus? Now imagine a war zone.

“We can't agree on how to write a manual for a car like this,” says Garipay. “And now we also want to move to a system that should independently decide whether to use lethal force or not.”

Make cool things, not weapons

Peter Asaro has spent the last few years lobbying for a ban on killer robots in the international community as the founder of International Committee on control of robotic armies. He believes that the time has come for “a clear international ban on their development and use.” This, he says, will allow companies like Clearpath to continue making cool stuff "without worrying that their products could be used to violate people's rights and threaten civilians."

Autonomous missiles are of interest to the military because they solve a tactical problem. When remote-controlled drones operate in combat environments, for example, the enemy often jams the sensors or network connection so that the human operator cannot see what is happening or control the drone.

Garipay says that instead of developing missiles or drones that can independently decide which target to attack, the military should spend money on improving sensors and anti-jamming technology.

“Why don't we take the investments that people would like to make to build autonomous killer robots and put them into making existing technologies more efficient? - he says. “If we set the challenge and overcome this barrier, we can make this technology work for the benefit of people, not just the military.”

Recently, conversations about the dangers of artificial intelligence have also become more frequent. Elon Musk worries that runaway AI could destroy life as we know it. Last month, Musk donated $10 million to artificial intelligence research.

One of important issues about how AI will impact our world is how it will merge with robotics. Some, like Baidu researcher Andrew Ng, worry that the coming AI revolution will take people's jobs away. Others like Garipay fear it could take their lives.

Garipay hopes that his fellow scientists and machine builders will think about what they are doing. That's why Clearpath Robotics took the side of the people. “While we as a company can’t put $10 million on it, we can put our reputation on it.”

Dmitry Melkin and Pavel and Boris Lonkin had no questions about who to take to the team to participate in robot battles. The guys knew each other from Baumanka, then together they assembled and installed solar power plants. One day Dmitry saw an advertisement for a robotics competition and applied. Friends supported the initiative, and a month later the first combat robot of the Solarbot team, Brontosaurus, stood in the garage.

The first robot is lumpy

Brontosaurus weighed a whole centner and, as its creators now admit, was not distinguished by either reliability or ingenious design solutions. No wonder: it was collected partly on a whim, partly from unclear screenshots from videos from the English Robot Wars competitions.

After Brontosaurus, having counted and remade the main components several times, Dmitry, Boris and Pavel assembled their second robot. Behind external resemblance with a shell it was called Shelby, from the English shell - “shell”. Shelby, the son of difficult mistakes, first won everyone at the “Battle of Robots - 2016” in Perm, organized by the Moscow Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Promobot company, and then, together with the cars of two other Russian teams, became a participant in international competitions in China. Its creators tell us how the winning robot works and what it took to make it.

Dmitry, ideological inspirer and jack of all trades:

“Our greatest pride is the Shelby chassis. We tinkered with the chassis of its predecessor literally after every battle. When we made the Shelby, the chassis was ground out, rebuilt and reassembled many times, but now you can completely forget about it. In future projects, we will only have to work on maintaining reliability and increasing power. It would be nice, for example, if our new robot could move not one, but two enemy robots at once.”

Shelby's chains are from mopeds, its wheels are from a racing kart, and its electric motors are from radio-controlled model cars. They don’t produce parts for combat robots, so they have to be found flea markets and on the Internet. Good parts are very expensive, and designers tend to make them themselves.

Boris, designer, strength specialist:

“Shelby is a flipper type. It is equipped with a pneumatic system that forcefully pushes the lid upward. This is the robot’s main weapon and its method of stabilization: having tipped over, it can turn over with one jerk and stand on its wheels. But we couldn’t create high pressure in the pneumatic cylinder to make the lid blow powerfully - we didn’t have the necessary valves. There was only one thing left to do: make the system work as quickly as possible. The solution turned out to be simple: we got rid of excess hydraulic resistance and modified the factory valves. In the future, of course, a valve will be needed high pressure. A ready-made one is expensive, about 200 thousand rubles, so now we are thinking about our own design.”

Combat robots are not a cheap hobby: you need at least 200-300 thousand rubles plus Consumables, spare tires and everything that breaks and is replaced in battle. And this does not take into account the time and labor spent. “To assemble a robot, a team of three people needs to stop going to work for two months,” laugh Solarbot engineers. You won’t be able to save even on electronic stuffing.

Pavel, programmer:

“The great thing about Shelby electronics is that there are very few of them. In order not to pick up a soldering iron after each fight, you need to provide the robot with the necessary minimum of “brains”. Shelby has simple factory controllers and only the valves are controlled by a small circuit board. It is very difficult to disable it. Even when in China, instead of the usual lead batteries, we were given powerful lithium ones and the wires failed after a couple of minutes, the robot’s electronics were not damaged.”

Shelby combat robot

Speed ​​up to 25 km/h Force on the pneumatic cylinder rod 2 t Engine power 2.2 kW Pneumatic shock capacity without changing the cylinder 30−35 Remote control The rules of the “Battle of Robots” prohibit any detachable parts and sheet metal, so Shelby does not shoot or wave anything, and its body is made only of a metal profile.

The Solarbot team has built a tough iron soldier, but it also has a breaking point. In China, he suffered from the rotating knives of Chinese spinners, in Perm - from the claws of a matanga robot, which with eight tons of force cuts a metal profile like butter. There are lacerations on his iron ribs. The creators are preparing its fate as an exhibit: it will participate in festivals (in the near future there is a summer Geek Picnic), and in the arena it will be replaced by new fighter- also a flipper, only faster, more powerful and even more reliable. The lifting force of the lid will be twice that of the Shelby, the motor power will increase from 2.2 to 2.8 kW, and the speed will increase. With the new robot, the Russian team dreams of going to Robot Wars in England.

But the future flipper is not the ultimate dream of Solarbot. Now Dmitry is negotiating with other teams and looking for sponsors: if everything works out, then the first “megabot” will appear in Russia - as big and formidable as the Japanese, American and Chinese multi-ton monsters.

Thanks to the support of the Moscow Institute of Technology, Russians for the first time entered the international tournament of combat robots FMB Championship 2017 in China. The battle was hosted by Shelby, Kazan Destructor and St. Petersburg Energy, which advanced to the semi-finals.

David Domingo Jiménez shares the secrets of modeling, texturing and lighting Crazy, his robot character.

Introduction

I have always believed that personal projects should be as professional as work ones. Using high-poly modeling, 8K textures, realistic materials and technically and artistically executed lighting, you can create a unique character with character and an atmospheric scene. In work, a lot depends on lighting, because it helps to set everything in the scene in the right way. Special thanks to Victor Loba for the composition.

Step 1: Concept creation

I took the first concept from my head, and since I am not a conceptual artist, I refined it using a base mesh and photo references. Choose the most suitable and efficient workflow for you.

The pipeline I work on is: base mesh modeling -> high-poly modeling of all objects -> creating UVs and final modeling -> UV editing and texturing -> setting up materials and lights -> final composition and setting up lights -> post

Step 2: Modeling, Stage 1

The picture shows the process of creating a robot model from the base mesh to sculpting in ZBrush and retopology, as a result of which we get a mesh with one level of divisions

Once I have a basic model, I immediately start working on its details individually using the Extrude, Bevel, Connect Edge and Shell commands.

I created the final version of the mesh using as few polygons as possible, which I later increased. I worked with the Editable Poly command with the Turbosmooth modifier, finally activating the Show End Result parameter.

Step 3: Modeling, stage 2

To detail the robot's clothes, ZBrush brushes such as Standard, Move, Smooth and ClayBuildup were used

Of course there are less complex ways simulations allowing the use of a small number of polygons, but there were many subdivisions in this work. That's why I prefer the most quick method, although it may not be the easiest.

I use ZBrush exclusively for clothing detailing using brushes such as Standard, Move, Smooth and ClayBuildup. It is also very important to use masks. I do the retopology in Topogun.

Step 4: Create a UV Map

UV Layout was used to create UVs. 4 texture maps of the same size and with the same number polygons

To create UVs, I recommend using UV Layout, as it is stable and intuitive simple program. Before you start cutting an object, you need to remember that the fewer cuts on the model, the better. I always cut models in areas least visible to the camera.

For this project, I created 4 maps of the same size with the same number of polygons, grouping them in the way that suited me best, so that they were located in UV space as conveniently as possible. It doesn't matter to me exactly how the shells are positioned in the UVs, as I always create separate ID cards for different materials.

Step 5: Texturing

Creating different texture maps at 8K resolution

First I create various maps at 8K resolution. Specifically for this work I created ID, AO, Displacement, Normal, Cavity and Snow maps. To get them in 3Ds Max: Rendering -> Render Surface Map. In ZBrush they can be obtained using ZPlugin -> Multi Map Exporter.

Step 6: Texturing in Photoshop

At this stage we are already working on 4 texture maps with 8K resolution

These maps are not only used for texture detail, they are especially convenient to work with since there is no need to leave Photoshop. Thanks to this, I can visually estimate the volume of our model. The Crazy character consists of 4 8K resolution textures that match BMP and SPC cards.

Step 7: Continue working on textures

To get good textures you need to be creative and work quickly

I always work with large tile textures, because it is easier to reduce the original size of the image, and with the help of masks you can very easily hide an unnecessary area. To get good textures you need to be creative and work quickly. I used photographs in this project.

I would recommend using ZBrush, Mudbox or Mari to paint textures on top of your mesh. Dirt, scratches, rust will add realism to the 3D model, however, do not overdo it, otherwise the result will look terrible. Any additional interventions to the model must be combined with the base material, for example, in my case, metal, magnetic coating, sand and dust, while corresponding color scheme and lighting.

Step 8: Setting Up Materials

The use of materials allows you to visually separate different parts of the model from each other

In this work I used various metal materials (steel, iron, aluminum); matte and shiny plastic; as well as leather, fabric and rubber. All these materials are assigned only 3 texture maps: Diffuse, Specular and Bump. There were no complex materials in the scene, except for the TV screen and the metal ax blade.

For all materials except Reflection Glossiness and Fresnel Reflections, for which exact numbers were entered, illuminance information was used, mainly for Fresnel IOR, as well as data for Bump.

Step 9: Final Light Adjustment

The final lighting setting should also illuminate the character's character.

The final setting of the light should illuminate the character's character, fitting him favorably into the environment. For my character, I wanted to create an aggressive atmosphere. I used night lighting and lightened the scene a bit with HDRI, enhancing the effect with electric light. Used VRayLights to highlight reflections and eliminate excessive contrast.

To direct the light and get a clearly readable silhouette of the character, I used SpotLights. Besides, the background was created using VrayLightsMaterial, for SpotLights I used textures, windows and other attributes to somehow indicate the building. I also used SpotLights to illuminate the entire scene.

VrayLights were used to enhance reflections and eliminate excessive contrast

Step 10: Post Processing

In a project of this type, this is the most important stage. I executed the scene in one color scheme, emphasized the illuminated areas, adjusted the contrast and blurred some parts of the work to create the effect of depth, forcing the viewer to focus. All these steps are very important to obtain good result.

In Photoshop, to achieve the bokeh effect, I worked with Saturation, Curves and Levels. Then I configured the texture maps that will be rendered: Reflection, Alpha and Specular. The result is a complex picture that conveys emotions and history to the viewer. With the help of the character Crazy, I demonstrate a whole series of my works and art style where I work.

A large gathering of scientists, industry leaders and NGOs have launched a campaign to stop killer robots, dedicated to preventing the development of combat autonomous weapons systems. Among those who signed up were: Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak.

These big names are generating a lot of attention and lending legitimacy to the fact that killer robots, once considered science fiction, are in fact fast approaching reality.

An interesting study published in the International Journal of Cultural Research takes a different approach to the idea of ​​"killer robots" as a cultural concept. Researchers argue that even the most advanced robots are just machines, like everything else humanity has ever made.

“The thing is, killer robot’ as an idea didn’t come out of thin air,” said co-author Tero Karppi, an assistant professor of media theory at the University at Buffalo. “This was preceded by methods and technologies to make thinking and development of these systems possible.”

In other words, we worry about killer robots. The authors explore the theme of killer robots in films such as The Terminator or I, Robot, in which they theorize that far in the future, robots will end up enslaving the human race.

“Over recent decades, the expanded use of unmanned weapons has dramatically changed warfare, bringing new humanitarian and legal challenges. There has now been rapid advancement in technology, resulting from efforts to develop fully autonomous weapons. These robotic weapons will have the ability to select fire on a target independently, without any human intervention."

The researchers respond that these alarmist dystopian scenarios reflect a “techno-deterministic” worldview, where technological systems give too much autonomy, which can be destructive not only for society, but for the entire human race.

But what if we coded machine intelligence in such a way that robots couldn't even tell the difference between a human and a machine? It's an intriguing idea: if there is no "us" and "them" there can be no "us versus them."

Indeed, Karppi suggested that we may be able to control how future machines will think about people on a fundamental level.

If we want to make changes in the development of these systems, now is the time. Simply ban lethal autonomous weapons and address the root causes of this dilemma. To truly avoid the development of autonomous killing machines.

WikiHow works like a wiki, which means that many of our articles are written by multiple authors. This article was produced by 14 people, including anonymously, to edit and improve it.

Have you ever wanted to build combat robot? You probably thought it was too expensive and dangerous. However, most robot fighting competitions have a 150 gram weight class, including RobotWars. This class is called "Antweight" in most countries and "FairyWeight" in the USA. They are much cheaper than large combat robots and not as dangerous. Therefore, they are ideal for beginners in the field of fighting robots. This article will tell you how to design and build an Antweight class combat robot.

NOTE: This article assumes that you have already read and built a simple RC robot. If not, come back and at first do it. It should be noted that this article Not is a recommendation for using a specific part of your robot. This is necessary to encourage creativity and diversity among robots.

Steps

Understand the rules. Before designing a robot for competition, you must understand all the rules. They can be found most important rule builds to watch out for are the size/weight requirements (4"X4"X4" 150 grams), and the metal armor rule which states you can't have armor more than 1mm thick.

What weapon will you use? An important part of a combat robot is the weapon. Come up with a weapon idea, but make sure you stay within the rules. For your first antweight bot, it is highly recommended to use a "flipper" or even a "pusher" (one who pushes). Flipping weapons, if designed correctly, can be the most effective weapon in the Antweight class. Push weapons are the simplest, as they are not moving weapons. The entire robot acts like a weapon and pushes robots around. This is effective since the rules state that half of the arena must be without walls. You will be able to push another robot out of the arena.

Select your details. Yes you need choose your details before design. However, don't buy them. Bye. Simply select the parts and the corresponding project. If something doesn't fit or doesn't work while you're designing, you'll save money because you can still replace the parts. And again, Not Buy the parts now!

• Select servo. Usually for beginners in the Antweight class it is recommended to use a servo instead of a motor as with a servo you won't need a speed controller which will save you money and some weight for your robot. You should look for "micro" servos as they will save you a lot of weight. Make sure the servo "is" 360 modifiable. For combat robots, it is recommended to take a high torque servo instead of a high speed servo to make it easier to push other robots, even if you have a different weapon. Servo drive can be purchased
  • If you can't find a servo that perfectly suits your needs, check out the other section of the site that sells Futaba servos. Futaba is another brand that makes servos. Sometimes they have different sizes than servos trademark HiTec.
• Select a motor for your weapon. If you have active weapon(not a "pusher" for example), then you'll probably need a motor to make the weapon move. If you have a weapon that needs to move really fast (like a spinning weapon) then you'll want to equip yourself with a DC motor (brushless usually works better, but brushes will work too) with a speed controller. It is not recommended to use spinning weapons for your first antweight robot, as they are difficult to build and balance correctly. However, if you want to make a flipping weapon, then you will need a servo. It is recommended to purchase a micro servo with particularly high torque so that it can easily flip another robot. Another thing that you should pay attention to when choosing a servo for a weapon is the type of gears. If you are using nylon gears and the motor is under heavy load, the gears may stretch over time. Try to choose more durable metal gears.
• Select wheels. When choosing wheels, remember the rule that the robot must fit into a 4"X4"X4 cube. This means that your robot should have smaller diameter wheels. It is recommended to use 2" diameter wheels. Make sure the wheels can be easily mounted to the servo and protected. Another great technique used by combat robots of any size is the ability to ride upside down. Yes, the controls will be a little backwards, but you can prevent yourself from losing the immobilization competition. To do this, make your robot lower than your wheels so it can ride upside down. You can buy wheels
• Select receiver/transmitter. When purchasing a receiver, make sure it is "fail safe". This is a mandatory rule in most competitions and safety. AR500 receiver Not has this trait. You will need to buy a receiver for the BR6000 bot, or another receiver with fault tolerance. It is recommended to use SpektrumDX5e as a transmitter. If you built the remote control robot from the previous wikiHow article, you can use that transmitter again, but you will have to buy a new receiver.
• Select battery. It is highly recommended to purchase a LiPo battery instead of a NiHM battery. LiPo batteries are lighter. However, they are more dangerous, expensive and require special Charger. Invest in a LiPo battery and charger to save on weight.
• Select a material. The material from which the chassis is made and armor combat robot, is very important, since it protects your electrical components from punctures by enemy weapons. There are three options to choose from: (note: there are more options, but these three are most suitable for this weight class) aluminum, titanium and polycarbonate. Aluminum is lightweight and strong, but can be expensive and difficult to cut. Plus, he might be completely Not 1 mm thick. Titanium is lightweight and very strong, but it is difficult to cut and very expensive. And the 1 mm thickness rule also applies to it. Polycarbonate, or Lexan, is a lightweight, inexpensive, easy-to-cut, shatterproof, durable plastic that is sometimes used in bulletproofing. Polycarbonate is also plastic, so it can be of any thickness, but it is recommended to use a thickness of 1 mm. It is highly recommended to use polycarbonate. It is as durable as the plastic used to make the walls of an antweight competition arena. When shopping, make sure to take a little extra in case you miscalculate. All these materials can be purchased

1. Collect characteristics. Now that you have selected all the parts, you need to take down the dimensions and weights. They should be listed on the website you purchased them from. Convert all values ​​in inches to millimeters using the converter. Write down the specifications (in mm) of all your parts on a piece of paper. Now, convert the weight values ​​(ounces, pounds) to grams using the converter. Write down the weight characteristics on paper.

   Design. You want the project to be as accurate as possible. This means that you should try making a 3D design on a computer rather than a 2D design on paper. However, a 3D design doesn't have to look complicated. A simple prism and cylinder project will do.

   1. Add up the weight of all the parts (in grams) and make sure the total is less than 150 grams.
   2. If you don't have CAD, download free version Sketchup.
   3. Learn the basics of Sketchup with free lessons.
   4. Create all the parts you will use in Sketchup with the dimensions you recorded earlier.
   5. Develop your chassis and armor. Make sure to make it smaller than 4X4X4 inches.
   6. Place all components into a 3D model of the chassis/armor to see if they fit. This will help you decide where the components will be located.

2. Order your parts. If all your components match your design flawlessly, order the parts. If not, select new parts.

   Collect it. Now you need to assemble your chassis/armor. Place all your components in the locations specified in your design. Connect everything and test. You should try to assemble everything so that you can easily remove the components if they need to be replaced. And components will need to be replaced more often than a regular robot, as this robot will fight. Attacking robots can damage yours. It is recommended to use Velcro tape to store the parts.

   Practice management. It doesn't matter how good your robot is, if you fall, you lose. Before you even think about competing, you need to practice management. Use upside down cups as cones and drive around them. Use the foam as targets and attack it (try this on a small table to practice pushing and try not to fall yourself). You could even buy a cheap RC car (on a different frequency with your robot), have another person drive it, and try to push or destroy the car without falling over. If you know another person with an Antweight robot, have a friendly fight with him (if possible, replace the spinning weapons with less destructive plastic ones).

3. Compete. Find competitions in your area and have fun destroying other robots! Remember that if you are going to compete in the US, you should look for Fairyweight competitions, not Antweights.

   • If you want your robot to be able to punch, it is advisable to attach a servo to a spherical "arm", and have the arm set at a 90 degree angle to do uppercuts.
   • Will your robot be more defensive or offensive? Since weight is limited, you may want to use most of it on weapons or armor. Try to balance these characteristics on your first robot.
   • Any robot can be improved. Just because your first robot model doesn't work, don't throw it away completely. You may just need to replace the motor. Even if you have a fully functioning robot, you can still improve it. Look at the motors that best suit your purposes, if the new motor is not used in the project, just leave it and you will be able to build another robot. Try upgrading some parts (usually the front, back and weapons) of the armor to aluminum, or even titanium, for more "spinner protection".
   • Remember that you can place your robot diagonally into the cube.
   • Order replacement parts for your robot. Since this is a combat robot, your parts may get damaged in battle. If you have spares on hand, you can replace parts faster.

   The rules state that the robot must fit into a 4X4X4 inch cube, however it can be expanded with remote control. You can benefit from this. For example, your flipping weapon sticks out too much. Try to design it so that the flipper can go straight up and be less than four inches tall. But when the flipper is lowered (after the cube is raised), the length will become more than four inches.

   • After building your first robot and having a clear understanding of combat robots, try to build another one. But this time, be unique. Try to make it different from the robots of other people in this weight category. If you're really ambitious, you can try making a flying robot! Flying robots are allowed by the rules, but they are rarely built.
   • If you use SketchUp, you can find the perfect models of servos and other components on Warehouse. Just search for the name of the servo (or component you want) and see if anything matches. Not everything is there, but what you find usually looks better and will give you a neater model. Make sure the model you find is the same size as the actual part.
   • If you are skilled in mechanics and fighting robots, you can try to build a walking robot. If you make a combat robot that walks, you'll have extra weight to work with.

   Warnings

   • LiPo batteries Very dangerous. Not charge them using a NiHM or Nicad battery charger.
   • Even micropneumatics are dangerous. If you use air guns, follow safety precautions.
   • Combat robots even of this size can be dangerous. If you are using a spinning weapon, move away when operating it. Turn it off when working on weapons.
   • Always wear safety glasses when cutting material or operating the robot.
   • Some arenas are considered unsafe for spinning weapons. Don't try to use spinning weapons in these arenas.
   • LiPo batteries can catch fire if they are punctured. When designing a robot, try to place the battery in a place that won't be punctured. If the battery catches fire, the rules state that you Not You can touch the robot while it is burning. You won't be able to get it out, which means all other components may be destroyed. Protect your battery like it's the heart of a robot!