Robots on guard duty at World Cup

It seems that not all of our robot friends are lucky enough to be able to kick back and play a bit of soccer of their own in Germany this month. No, some are stuck with the lowly task of protecting us humans, with eleven Linux-based robots from Robowatch Technologies providing both indoor and outdoor surveillance at Berlin's Olympic Stadium every night until the final World Cup game on July 9th. The outdoor robots, known as ORFO, use GPS to patrol an area up to two kilometers away from the control center and pack thermal cameras able to detect intruders by their body heat. Alas, it appears they are unarmed -- which is probably for the best, you know, in the grand scheme of things. The indoor robots, dubbed MORSO, are deployed throughout the stadium, equipped with video cameras, radar sensors, temperature gauges, and infrared scanners able to detect movement or any changes to the stadium. The robots also use 3G technology to communicate with the control center and, presumably, to watch some TV on their breaks.

[SASOON @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:06PM]

looks like the original nintendo with an old school projector lens attacted to it.

[shirizaki @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:11PM]

First they protect us, then they kill us.

SkyNet is almost ready.....

[Scabies @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:22PM]

Do these things get vandalized or stolen? or trampled?

[blackfeather @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:44PM]

Hooligans beware... Robo-Krumpky is on patrol!

[Mike @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:45PM]

Good thing it's not armoured... robots aren't perfect, and neither are their programmers.
That's pretty interesting. I've never seen that before.

[neXus @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:51PM]

The long thing sticking out of it (probably the cameras) look real fun to whack with a baseball bat :)

[idude135 @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:54PM]

There is nothing left to protect, the US team has been eliminated thanks to biased referees.

Looks like the local authorities got their work cut out for them.

[Vanilla Spice @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:59AM]

Wow - 8 comments, and nobody has yet, for one, welcomed our new robot overlords.

[Dario @ Jun 23rd 2006 10:02AM]

i for one, welcome our new robot overloads!

:-P

[Jericho @ Jun 23rd 2006 11:05AM]

@idude135 Ummm... were u watching the same World Cup as everyone else??? We didnt even deserve to be there.

As for the bot, i wanna see a better paint job. If they're gonna take over the world then they should at least look cool doing it.

[Ost @ Jun 23rd 2006 5:50PM]

I have to admit, these robot posts make me laugh.