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Sean Snyder

iRobot and Taser Team Up

iRobot and Taser have announced their alliance to produce a proof-of-concept model which will combine the iRobot Packbot and Taser’s electronic control device (ECD) technology. The model and more information on the alliance will be presented at the Taser Tactical Conference on July 9-10 in Chicago.

(I don’t really want to propagate the techno-paranoia that this collaboration presents but let’s face it; both Skynet and OCP had to start somewhere)

Personally I think this alliance makes sense. The only issue I see is that once people (i.e assailants) know what these are, they will probably still be able to avoid them. The plan as I understand it is that these machines will not be automated but remotely controlled, so even if who ever is using this TaserBot has expert marksmanship, they are still operating it through a narrow scope and at the limitations of the machine.

In order for this to be a successful product, they have to seriously approach the interface of the control. Maybe it would be a two person operation, one person to control the movement of the robot and another to fire the Taser component. The firing setup could possibly use a mock fire-arm with hardware to determine location and aim (accelerometer, motion sensor, laser, etc) and a projection screen for an operator to aim at the target.  In fact, they should bring Nintendo in on the alliance. I mean with their current Wii success and their prior Duck Hunt success they would be the perfect match (kidding… kinda).

It’s one thing to use a robot to scout or retrieve, but I am a little skeptical of how accurate the technology, especially the prototype, will be. I guess on the up-side iRobot didn’t team up with Smith and Wesson.