In killer robot news, there is a drone now that can roam around on its own and kill by injecting poison with a needle. No, it’s still not Ray Bradbury’s mechanical hound, which I am still expecting any day now. This one is roaming the Great Barrier Reef murdering starfish.

I still find it just a tiny bit disturbing. But I also wondered if chemical pesticides could be replaced by tiny drones that target specific pests. That is likely to be one topic of the science fiction masterpiece series I plan to write as soon as I become unexpectedly independently wealthy and retire from my day job. Of course, in my science fiction book, they will probably start running amok and killing all the pollinators, which will of course threaten the world food supply. But then someone will invent a pollinator drone, which will seem like a good idea for awhile until in a desperate attempt to save the world’s remaining natural ecosystems, we seed them with these various drones and they, well, run amok somehow. Aren’t most science fiction stories about something or other running amok?

And in one more robot story, there was an autonomous quadcopter unveiled at CES (you’re supposed to just know what that stands for) that can supposedly carry human occupants, although nobody has been brave enough to ride in it.

Ehang, the drone maker, claims its all-electric quadcopter, the Ehang 184, is the first in the world that is capable of operating autonomously. According to the company’s announcement, the vehicle is like an oversized drone – built just big enough to carry a single passenger. That passenger supposedly has only to plug in their desired destination, sit back, and enjoy the ride while the aircraft takes off and climbs up to 11,000 feet. If there is a problem, Ehang says the human passenger can take over the controls and pilot the chopper to safety…

Despite the skepticism, Ehang officials believe their autonomous quadcopter could revolutionize personal travel on a global scale. “It’s been a lifetime goal of mine to make flight faster, easier, and more convenient than ever. The 184 provides a viable solution to the many challenges the transportation industry faces in a safe and energy-efficient way,” said Ehang CEO Huazhi Hu. “I truly believe that Ehang will make a global impact across dozens of industries beyond personal travel. The 184 is evocative of a future we’ve always dreamed of and is primed to alter the very fundamentals of the way we get around.”

There are obvious military uses – no needles attached to these but I don’t see why there couldn’t be. It might seem dangerous to drive these things around town. But one more thought I have is that if we replaced our rubber-wheeled cars with something like this, it could obviate the need for so much pavement even if it were just elevated a few inches or feet off the ground. Maybe they could be soft and just bounce off each other at low speed without damage. Maybe they could stack or hang on hooks rather than needing horizontal parking lots. Maybe we could get rid of a lot of pollution and flooding caused by all that pavement, plus a lot of the toxins that come from tire and brake dust. It might take more energy though to both elevate these vehicles and propel them around than we use on cars now, I am not sure about that. A clean cheap energy source would always be a good idea.