Recon Scout gets new job at prison, isn't any fun to hang out with

You may remember this little dumbell-looking Recon Scout drone we saw last year, when it had just been implemented in the military. If you'll recall, the robot selflessly allows itself to be thrown into wild and unpredictable situations deemed "too risky" for people, then transmits grainy video back to an Operator Control Unit. Well, it turns out that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was interested in this rugged bastion of self-sacrifice, too. They can apparently envision all kinds of nightmare scenarios where prisoners have weapons and no human wants any part of it -- which is why they've agreed to a rental contract where they get ten devices and developer ReconRobotics gets feedback from the Department in exchange. Seriously though, aren't there any jubilant tasks we could set this guy to? He's getting to be such a killjoy.

[JiltedCitizen @ Oct 31st 2008 8:06AM]

Toss him into the girls locker room?

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Oct 31st 2008 10:48AM]

giggity.

[Steve Mango @ Oct 31st 2008 8:15AM]

How big is this thing? What's stopping people picking it up and beating each other with it?

[Izzy @ Oct 31st 2008 8:31AM]

Absolutely nothing.

[konshuss @ Oct 31st 2008 9:25AM]

the lack of a front-mounted remote-controlled uzi.

[yode @ Oct 31st 2008 8:19AM]

yo timel sup

[Chris @ Oct 31st 2008 8:37AM]

If you go to http://www.engadget.com/page/3049/ you can see the oldest post ever.

T-Flash: aka "Yet Another Memory Card Format"
by Peter Rojas, posted Mar 2nd 2004 at 1:12PM
ot that anyone seems to be demanding yet another Flash memory card format, but SanDisk just took the wraps off of T-Flash, which is meant to be used with cellphones. The new format is just 11mm by 15mm, or half the size of a SIM card (i.e. easily lost), and comes in in 32MB, 64MB, and 128MB varieties. Motorola is the first cellphone manufacturer to get behind T-Flash, and conveniently, the cards will work in an SD card slot with the proper adapter.

It looks like a micro SD card.

[Phoenix @ Oct 31st 2008 8:42AM]

That's because it IS a micro SD card.

[Aditya @ Oct 31st 2008 8:43AM]

Solid Snake would like this

Will BigDog like this too? Seems like a mini cometitor to that guy.

[Lucien @ Oct 31st 2008 8:53AM]

so when the rioting starts at least they have a nice grainy video of it to show the press. It should be equipped with some sort of tear gas or a way to detain the prisoners somehow

[Max @ Oct 31st 2008 10:49AM]

Detain them? Put handcuffs on them and hold them?

[Benson @ Oct 31st 2008 2:25PM]

Yes, tear-gassing prisoners could certainly be a jubilant task. But you really want sarin for teh uberlulz.

[Felipe @ Oct 31st 2008 9:32AM]

recon scout+little kids+"great fun"=profit

[rutsy5 @ Oct 31st 2008 9:53AM]

You know what's even more of a killjoy?

When people die

[kevjohn @ Oct 31st 2008 10:10AM]

Ahh, I see you have met my friends... Debbie Downer and Buzz Killington.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Oct 31st 2008 10:49AM]

Yes, because if California keeps locking people up at the same rate, there won't be anyone left to work as prison guards. Or, at the very least, noone left to pay their salaries.

Oh, wait, that's probably why we need a loan from the Federal Government.

[plittle @ Oct 31st 2008 11:22AM]

Wow, my senior design project lives on!

[phlavor @ Oct 31st 2008 1:20PM]

Someday shank that snitch.

[MB @ Oct 31st 2008 2:05PM]

Just throw and MP3 player in it, some speakers and call it a Sony.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Oct 31st 2008 4:09PM]

jailbot?

[Serpentyne @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:41AM]

lol, my robotics prof. is the one who invented these, and I'm gonna be writing code for it in a couple of weeks

[dschell2 @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:37PM]

toss a bunch of them into the sewers of NYC and finally put to rest the (flushed-toilet) croc / alligator stories...