Software glitch "unlikely" to blame for deadly cannon incident, expert says
By Donald Melanson 
posted October 19th 2007 4:25PM
posted October 19th 2007 4:25PM
While some have speculated that a software glitch may been the cause of the deadly anti-aircraft cannon incident in South Africa last week, a defense expert is now casting doubt on that notion, saying that it is more likely the result of a "simple mechanical failure." According to Jim O'Halloran of Jane's Land-Based Air Defence (speaking to NewScientist), "if a shell was jammed in the breech and the cordite then fired, it could set off the ammunition in the canisters," which would in turn send the turret spinning. O'Halloran went on to say that it's "a very tragic accident, but it is not a robot gone out of control." As reported earlier, both the police and a Board of Inquiry are now investigating the matter, although there's been no firm conclusions from either as of yet.
Leave it to sentient A.I. to pull off the perfect murder
KILL ALL HUMANS!
FREE SODA TO ALL HUMANS!
Not to make fun of this. But, is that an actual picture of the canon? That looks like Dumbo.
south african anti-air cannons look like elephants to blend in with surroundsing. camo power.
Seriouslah. I click the image of the elephant cannon expecting to at least see it in the article, and instead the article contains no images. WHERE did that image come from??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oerlikon_35_mm_twin_cannon
Machines have been failing and killing people ever since people started making machines. I wouldn't consider new age computer driven machines any different. A computer program is just another machine. When AI starts to think for itself AND can kill people, thats when I'll be worried.
OR you get optimistic perhaps?
WTF? A deadly incident in the test of a deadly invention?
Sounds rather logical to me. Your stuff is working, dudes, no problem.
Somebody should tell them cordite is obsolete since the WWII so that they can finally admit that the robot got BERSERK...
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
Yep. This guy is sounding less like a weapons expert and more like a marketing expert.
Annother point. If this thing is a rapid fire gun and it's an Oerlikon like they said it's very likely to be long recoil. Long recoil guns generally don't stove pipe like this guy says. furthermore, if this gun is likely to cook off all its ammo if it jams then it would be a pretty unsafe weapon, and would not be in use by 35 countries.
This is the gun system in question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oerlikon_35_mm_twin_cannon
It's quite sophisticated and saw actual combat during the Falklands conflict between Argentina and Great Britain.
The "dumbo" picture is just one configuration.
Meaning that it was "quite sophisticated" 20 years ago?
I think most weapons are more than 20 years old now, tanks, planes, submarines, nuclear missiles.
Although they obviously do update their electronics.
the gun itself is not new. Guns have been a mature technology for a long time. The colt .45 auto pistol remained standard issue for over 70 years in the U.S. Army, and the only reason they changed it was because the 9mm had better characteristics against body armor.
What has been changing is the electronic the fire control system.
DROP YOUR WEAPON !
You have 15 seconds to comply!
Guess it didn't hear their weapons fall.
"...it is not a robot gone out of control." Umm... What? Did it kill people it wasn't supposed to? That means that it did something outside of user control, which hence would mean that the robot WAS out of control.
Machines such as this cannon, that point something in a particular direction, have position sensors that should have realized (if the ammo can blast story is true) that something outside of its control moved the turret. At that point, all cannon fire should cease until the turret is re-positioned to where it was supposed to be.
That's what I was thinking too, you expect the thing to have feedback mechanism to know its orientation, but perhaps it merely counts the steps a cog makes.
They should step into modern times where even consoles can detect orientation of gamepads eh.
That's what happened when it found its Gogic Racer in bed with a Roomba.