SCI FI PI

In a disturbing trend, European robotocists have not only begun work on but now are further developing not normal, bring me a drink Martini-making robots, but self-replicating, swarm mentality robots.

We'll give you a moment for the eerie icy chill to run up and down your spine.

Yep.

"The REPLICATOR project focuses on the development of an advanced robotic system, consisting of a super-large-scale swarm of small autonomous mobile micro-robots that are capable of self-assembling into large artificial organisms."


The creepiest looking of the current crop - from the SYMBRION project.


You can check out the details at www.replicaters.eu, but the truly chilling stuff can be found at the sites of the projects that gave birth to this 'whoops, tiny robots went bad and then ate my planet' scenario.

I-Swarm, with an appropriately geeky address, http://i60p4.ira.uka.de/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=I-Swarm and Swarmrobot at http://www.swarmrobot.org/ both give the impression that none of the world's top robotocists have ever watched Stargate:SG1, which in itself is disturbing, but it is also frustrating. very frustrating, proving that the it is not only the pleasure of the SCI FI fan to tell other people about cool shows, but also their duty.

A few choice episodes sent to the right head of departments and/or venture capitalists would have clearly pointed out the dangers of making tiny little robots that make copies of themselves with an artificial intelligence also known, (creepily enough) on the show as Replicators, and put a stop to this madness.

Unless of course these white coated geeks really WANT the perfect recipe not only to wipe out biological entities on whole planets, but across entire galaxies.

Obviously when the little gadgets start piling up on themselves to form a humanoid shape and start discussing philosophy, and man's inability to fit into the 'grand plan', we will be too late to stop them.

Please, hackers of the world, take notice, and start building an EMP-delivered computer virus that turns the AI primary function from 'bad+kill+replicate+goto10' to 'three olives+Hendricks+Grey Goose+Noilly Prat@1.05 microlitres+chilled glass=serve'.

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled across episodes of Stargate: SG1 for mentions of the Replicators. They really are almost as creepy as their real life counterparts and are as cool an SG baddie as the Goa'uld and the Ori.