Peacebots Picket Robot Combat Event

[RoboGuy]

The Northeast Robotics Club recentlysponsored Robot Conflict, an event in which radio-controlled vehiclesresembling robots are guided by their human controllers to destroy eachother. Participants at the event were suprised to see protestingautonomous robots carrying signs that said "Make code not war","Thou shalt not press others' kill switch", and "Extendable arms are forhugging". The robot protesters were created by students of anintroductory computer science class at nearby Bryn Mawr university. Thestudents said the robot protest was all in fun and that theyactually enjoyed watching the mechanical mayhem as much as anyone.However, their professor pointed out the appropriateness that peacebotsdesigned by four women protested a combat event in which 99 of 100participants were male - and the very type of event which tends todiscourage the participation of women in robotics. He went on to say,"we weren't really protesting robot violence. People have a lot offun doing this, and that's great. I don't have any objection to that,but if people are going to use it for education, they ought to thinktwice."

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