[RadioAndrea]

"On an LCD display behind Baber, I could see an image of my leg, transmitted by a camera under the robot’s gun barrel. The gun then pointed at my stomach. He assured me that it was not loaded."

Pointing a firearm an anyone, even unloaded, even (especially?) robot controlled, is a terrible idea. This bothers me to no end, and it's so strange that someone who works with very powerful weapons can act like this. Perhaps he feels that he's smart enough that no mistakes will happen? Perhaps he has confidence in the robot not to fire any rounds? He's a brilliant man, very good at what he does; certainly he's spent lots of time with these things, and understands them more than I ever will.

That said: mistakes happen, don't point guns at people you don't want holes in.

[carsongross]

This guy obviously knows the dictum "never point a firearm at anything unless you intend to destroy it."

Apparently writers from the New Yorker fall within that set for him.

[aaronem]

Or maybe he just likes screwing with their heads, and as a fellow Southron well familiar with the oft-condescending ways of Yankees, I don't suppose I can blame him too strongly for that.

[carsongross]

Ah, right, I always forget about the "except for people you kinda don't like" clause in the rules of firearms safety.

[CamperBob2]

Sadly, that's basically the perspective of the guy in the article:

   “I don’t want that on my conscience—something I 
   created going out and killing people all over the damn 
   place,” he said. “I’m not worried about what it does 
   over in Iraq or Afghanistan. That’s fine.”

It was starting to sound like a lot of fun, but that quote sort of brought me back to reality. (Who knows if it's an accurate quote, of course.)

[crpatino]

On the other hand, the robot arm might have been carrying an iron rod that just looked like a gun, loaded or otherwise?

[CamperBob2]

Not many days go by without a funny headline on Fark about somebody with a supposedly-unloaded gun who decided to "screw with someone's head."

[jpindar]

This was a HUGE red flag for me too.

It seems to me that the only right way to work with robotic firearms is to keep a chamber flag in them at all times except when they're on a hot range.

[chrisbennet]

Yeah, that is a big red flag for me too. Confidence in your engineering is one thing but I think this guy's hubris might explain why he has no friends. Someone points a gun at me and I'm giving them a wide berth from then on.