Mars Phoenix lander saves itself with some quick thinking
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 16th 2008 12:11PM
posted July 16th 2008 12:11PM
The Phoenix lander has already proven its mettle by finding ice on Mars, and now it's gone and shown off its quick-thinking skills by shutting down its robotic arm after receiving a command that could have permanently damaged it. The lander apparently did it's best to find a workaround first, however, but ultimately determined that any further movement would have bent its wrist out of shape. That left NASA engineers scrambling yesterday to come up with some new instructions to send to the lander, and they're now simply waiting to see if they meet with the robot's approval.
[Via Slashdot]
[Via Slashdot]
"that means those white patches must've been ice"
wow science!
those black clouds must've been ghosts! I found ghosts!
I thought the 3 laws meant that it had to obey a command even if it meant endangering itself?
no, third law say that they can disobey a law that causes harm to itself, unless it violates 1 and 2 (meaning that it has to save humans before it saves itself)
@whowhatme
An order given to a robot by a human being to damage itself is a valid order according to the three laws.
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Nerds.
oh, yeah, you're right, ...unless the lander's on 'autonomous mode' or something, where it sort of hangs out and waves its arms around by itself, without any human input
ITS TURNED SENTIENT! OMG NOOOOO WE'RE DOOMED.....
oh hes billions of miles away its cool.
This article and ensuing posts made me chortle.
Rather vehemently, actually!
chortled till you choked?
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that
If it keeps trying to do those wrist motions, It'll go blind.
Here's hoping it at least keeps a positive attitude, unlike the last rovers:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/54360
omg that's the funniest thing i read in a long time, i'm sitting here at work trying not to laugh so hard
Yes... It's probably my all-time favorite page on the internet.
Best quote (And applies to this story, ironically):
'OVERPRICED SPACE-ROOMBA AWAITING MORE BULLSHIT ORDERS.'
This is like Wall-e, except on Mars.
hmmm, should I use a V-Ger joke, or a Wall-E joke?
It should be awarded a WristStrong bracelet and be pronounced the WristStrong ambassador to Mars for its dedication against wrist violence.
Seconded!
Ha-HA! Not to scale...
I am sorry Dave, I can't do that......
lol. brilliant
Holy crap! A machine with some built-in fail-safe mechanisms, amazing!!!!!11one
You will be the first to go.
... who built the thing in the first place.
Message received by NASA in reply to faulty movement orders: 'OVERPRICED SPACE-ROOMBA AWAITING MORE BULLSHIT ORDERS.'
deductive reasoning, dumb-ass!
@ required.
not nearly as relevant way down here...
lolocaust
When we eventually put people on Mars the first thing we will have to do is declare war on whatever has developed from all the self-sustaining robots we sent.
Don't worry, by then the President should just be able to come out and declare it instead of going through the proper channels of Congress.
And clearly MUCH smarter than you. Those scientists built it to begin with and PROGRAMMED that kind of self-awareness into the machine.
Okay, I'm only gonna sing this one more time...
"Oh, if you want to be possessive, then it's just "i-t-s", but if it's supposed to be a contraction then it's "i-t-apostrophe-s". Scalawag."
"Okay, I'm only gonna sing this one more time..."
Do you promise?
I guess it likes its wrist in the position it is in so as not to be confused with the GAY robots...
In Soviet Russia, Mars land damages YOU!
This is one of those things that NASA actually succeeds at. Hope they last a few more years.
Does it concern anyone that while we applaud its quick thinking, we humans (i.e. engadget writers) can't figure out when to use its vs. it's?
A better headline would have been:
Mars Phoenix robotic lander says "No."
"it did it's best..."
You mean "its" not "it's."