The Chinese government this week demonstrated their ability to shoot down satellites and not to be out done the US government demonstrated their ability to shoot a working ray gun, capable of making you feel like you are on fire.

Various different military and defense contractors have been working on a ray gun design for close to 7 decades almost as long as the concept has existed in science fiction even.

The device can be fired from 500 meters away which is further than rubber bullets or other non-lethal devices. Its also further than the effective range of your average m-16. The device when fired makes the target feel like they are catching fire and of course they flee the pain.

The device is not expected to go into production until 2010, but could be used in deployments such as Iraq or afghanistan to protect troops without permanently harming innocent civillians that happen to be in the vicinity of people that pose a real threat.

Brigadier General Philip Coker challenged researchers back in 2005 to develop an energy gun of some type to be used in Iraq. He challenged researchers to come up with sometihng within 12 months. Todays test although not directly linked to that challenge, does show that designers and researchers were paying attention. Back then it seemed unlikely that the military might rush to use an experimental weapon, but the battlefield has been known to push the deployment envelope for troops and for weapons that might save those troops.

This war does not show any signs of ending under current conditions, maybe a ray gun could be one component that might level the battle field (this is not a playing field).

Technorati tags: Military Ray Gun, ray gun comes in past the deadline

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I’m resurrecting a theme on my improving technology series. Today, I just wanted to review the technology of non lethal suppression weapons like tasers and things like mace pepper spray.

I first saw my first stun gun back in 1995, when I was fresh out of the Army and running a bar before I moved back to Illinois to go to college.

One night some guy came driving down the street in a van, and came into the bar offering to sell me a stun gun or some stereo equipment out of his van.

It was kind of a weird experience, but I didn’t realize why this guy would even have this type of an option until I learned that tasers, stun guns and many types of non lethal suppression weapons are not legal in all states, while guns are legal in all fifty.

If that isn’t a stupid paradox I do not know what is. It seems to me that the technology has continually improved in these types of weapons over the years. I remember my mother owning a tear gas pen that fired the tear gas with a charge that was triggered with a primer that you would find in a real bullet. It made one hell of a bang, but just sprayed dust.

These days you can dial up or dial down the stun on a taser, you can aim it much more effectively, and the fact that you can shoot it at all (as opposed to the old version that required that you be within arms length of your assailant) is a major advantage. But why do legislators want to prevent people from owning these items for self defense? It seems a lot safer than allowing everyone to run around with a lethal weapon after all.

The technology may have matured over the years, but the politicians don’t seem to have followed the same learning curve.

* This article is sponsored but the views and perspective are all our own.

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iRobot has been working in robotics for the military since the early 90’s. They are commercially known more for their Roomba robots.

Reuters put out a great human interest story detailing the attachment and sentiment that has reportedly been built up by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan using robots as tools to perform tasks such as sniffing out bombs and improvise explosive devices.

“‘Please fix Scooby Doo because he saved my life,’ a soldier told repair technicians”

Its not hard to understand the attachment someone could develop for a machine. Naming a rifle was glorified a bit in the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and to an extent this is an extension. In the military, personnell are trained to take care of their equipment as their lives depend on the equipment. A robot that can check to see if a potential object is a bomb, can literally save their life time and time again.

iRobot is hoping to leverage this perception of this attachment into future robotics devices as well. How much could your average consumer appreciate a robot that can actually mow the grass, fold and separate laundry, pick up around the house or diagnose and service your car?

(Uh wait, you’ve got a Mazda 3? Sorry too technical for us, was the words I heard over and over again by quick change oil places when I was on a short business trip in Illinois last month and needed an oil change. If I had a robot to service the car, it might be as simple as downloading an update to the robot overnight, while I’m drinking a beer and watching TV - or more realistically, programming a web page or reading some archane book to teach me how to program something.)

I’ll be up front with my audience here. I’m an Isaac Asimov fan, have been for almost 25 years now. I’ve had the future laid out for me in fiction for a long time coming and Will Smith only gave us a tiny glimpse.

I can’t wait to see what strikes up next.

Soldiers bond with iRobot machine; CEO dreams big

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Gridlock News provides links to source documents published today by Wired Magazine. The documents detail (down to the wiring detail) how the NSA & AT&T rigged up a ’secret room’ in multiple locations around the country to read internet traffic including messages, emails and surfing activity.

Whistleblower Mark Klein, not covered by the Gag order impacting the EFF, AT&T and the NSA provided copies of the evidence he gave to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which can be read by you now!

click here ->Gridlock News: Read NSA Spying Documents from Whistleblower

here’s a picture of one of the previously secret rooms

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