A lot of wonders of the modern technology came from military research, whether we like it or not. And even technology which generally seems peaceful enough is often adapted for combat needs. Listen on air and read more on our daily Runet review '.RU' at the voiceofrussia.com.
It seems that one of the primary motivators behind technological progress is the thought “I want to kill more people faster and from a greater distance and, preferably, not die myself.” The Internet as we know it grew from a US military research project – DARPA net. And even technology which generally seems peaceful enough is often adapted for combat needs. For example, take the 3D printer. There exists an “open source firearms” company, which specializes in creation and sharing of 3D-printable firearms. Not really sure if that’s a good idea, but here we are. Lawmakers across the world may soon have to deal with this issue – especially as cheaper metal printers hit the market. Plastic guns, while having poor longevity, are still capable of firing lethal shots – or exploding, which can kill or maim either the target, the shooter or bystanders. If people start using high quality metal 3D printers – well, that would be an unpredictable situation. Thankfully, every coin has a flipside. In the world of smart-everything, firearms are not an exception to being improved with modern tech. And no, smartguns won’t be able to take selfies at the firing range; they will be able to prevent anyone but the owner from pulling the trigger. There are different ways smart firearms try to accomplish this, but the general idea is common – the weapon cannot be triggered unless some kind of authentication is provided. One of the most popular smartguns to date is the Armatix iP1. The safety trigger of this .22 handgun is linked to a special watch which communicates with the weapon through a wireless signal utilizing RFID standards. Once paid, the smart gun will only fire if it’s located within 10 inches from the watch. There are similar designs out there as well. For example, arms manufacturer Mossberg has a shotgun with an RFID transmitter and a battery within the rifle. It pairs with passive rings; once they’re close enough to the gun they turn on and send the signal to the weapon, allowing it to be fired. There are other methods as well, which work not only for newly designed weapons, but can be retrofitted to older models with some modification. For example, Kodiak Industries has created a Intelligun model of the M1911 pistol, a very popular firearm in the United States. The handgun has a built-in fingerprint scanner located at the grip where the operator’s middle finger would be. The only way the gun can fire is if there is a correct finger resting at the scanner at the moment the trigger is pulled. Some of the solutions are more futuristic and high-tech. There’s the so-called Dynamic Grip Recognition system, proposed by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The system essentially learns how the operator holds a gun on, and refuses to respond to anyone else. Supposedly, just like a lot of things about us humans, the pressure patterns from our hands are unique. Of course, there’s a number of questions raised by this system, like whether the pattern can be copied or what happens if someone changes their pattern. Same goes for other authentication methods – just how reliable are they? After all, people not only want to render weapons useless by unauthorized operators, they also want them to fire when they’re supposed to. Peter Lekarev, Read more: Source: Voice Of Russia
