Robotic Ferret Used To Fight Smugglers 54
Scientists at the University of Sheffield have created a device dubbed the "cargo-screening ferret" that is able to detect drugs, weapons, and even illegal immigrants concealed in cargo containers. The 30cm-long robot is equipped with tiny sensors that are more sensitive than any currently employed in conventional cargo scanners. The ferret will attach itself magnetically to the inside of a cargo container and sweep it for contraband, while sending a steady stream of information back to its controller. Project leader Dr Tony Dodd said, "It's essential we develop something which is simple to operate and which border agents can have total confidence in. The ferret will be able to drop small probes down through the cargo and so pinpoint exactly where contraband is concealed."
Some really famous last words.... (Score:3, Insightful)
"and which border agents can have total confidence in"
Replace 'border agents' with any group you want... and what they have confidence in does not matter. Total confidence in anything other than yourself is foolish at best. Can anyone in the US say Federal Reserve? Yes, I know, humans were in the loop on that one, but so are they on this one. Anything sold as the be all and end all or something you can have total confidence in is not familiar with how crooked border agents work. sigh. There were some folk with total confidence in electronic voting machines.....
I will go along with this as long as every time it fails the government makes a mortgage payment for me.
no need (Score:4, Insightful)
I suspect these people will quickly learn the true meaning of uptime. If you deploy 100 of these to search 1000 containers on a ship and you have one of them fail on you or simply run down it's batteries, then you are going to be spending all your time in recovery operations trying to find behind what box in what container you lost the freak'in thing.
I don't expect robots to be as reliable as computers. Heck my roomba get's it self in trouble a significant number of times and it's only moving along carpet. (Frankly the roomba is amazing. the fact that it can get it self out of most trouble is an incredible feat. the fact that it still gets snagged just shows you how complex the real world is in providing unanticipated obstacles)