Most people remember little about the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West other than the fact that it had a giant steam-powered tarantula. That's what's impressive. When villains decide to express their villainy through technological know-how, it's impressive. And not just in movies. Any machine that seems designed to wreak comic-book-level mayhem is pretty impressive.
10. Car flamethrower
Protecting yourself and your property can take many forms. Unfortunately, we live in a world where sometimes it is necessary for people to take what you paid money for, or otherwise sometimes hurt you or cause harm. So what can you do?
When it comes to cars and homes, most people opt for security systems. They are usually easy to use and affordable, and provide a level of protection that will keep most potential thieves and hooligans at bay. But what happens if that’s not enough?
In the late 1990s, the Blaster was the answer to your car protection needs. A flamethrower that would incinerate anyone on either side of your car.
In 1998, Charl Fourie created the BMW Blaster, a custom safety device for drivers in South Africa who wanted an extra level of deadly security fit for Dr. Doom. The fuel lines were fed by a pair of injectors on either side of the car, near the trunk. A foot switch combined with a switch activated them, burning any would-be thieves alive.
The device cost $650 and fired liquefied petroleum gas up to five meters away, aiming it at face level of anyone standing on the sides of the car. The device was not illegal in South Africa, and in fact several hundred units were sold. The high price was what put off most buyers, and the fact that various security groups advised against it not because they thought it was dangerously crazy, but because they felt it would simply encourage hijackers to kill people from a safe distance.
9. Killdozer
If a device is known as a Killdozer, it can't possibly have an interesting backstory. Marvin Heimeyer's Killdozer is one such vehicle, and its story, famous enough to warrant a movie, has become the stuff of legend.
Heemeyer's story took place in Granby, Colorado, and began with a property dispute. He sold some of his property to a particular company. The city reallocated the land and a factory was built, but this cut off Heemeyer's access to his own property from his business.
Fed up with the way things were going, Heemeyer snapped. Using his welding skills, he began building an armored bulldozer in his workshop. The armor was homemade and incredibly effective. This was demonstrated later when he went berserk in the car. Police fire proved useless against the Killdozer, and even small explosives proved as effective as shooting a duck with a water pistol.
Inside, Heemeyer’s bulldozer would be protected by 3 inches of bulletproof plastic and full armor. Air conditioning kept him cool, and television monitors allowed him to see the outside without exposing himself to danger. Several guns were mounted outside, including a .50-caliber rifle. Police later said he designed the Killdozer and the path of destruction he chose as a one-way ticket. Heemeyer was never going to survive.
Heemeyer literally ploughed through the city, taking revenge on everyone he felt had wronged him. The concrete factor, the judge, the city hall and many other houses and businesses. No one could resist the brute force of his creation. He drove through them as if they were made of paper.
In all, he destroyed 13 buildings before accidentally getting stuck in a basement. At that point, the governor had already authorized the National Guard to intervene. Rather than let anything worse happen, Heemeyer killed himself.
8. Euthanasia machine
Dr. Jack Kevorkian was once dubbed Dr. Death in the press, and was said to have a killing machine that he brought into patients' homes. In reality, it was just a portable device that allowed for at-home euthanasia, as the doctor championed the belief that terminally ill patients deserved the right to choose when and how they died. When it came to an actual suicide machine, he had nothing on Philip Nitschke.
Nitschke is a doctor in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal for several years. A leading proponent of the practice, he was the first doctor in the country to administer a lethal dose to a patient who asked for it. And he has since developed an honest-to-goodness 3D-printed suicide machine ready to end a life.
The device, called Sarco, is essentially your own coffin. You jump in and seal it so that only you have control and no one else can kill you with it. Liquid nitrogen, a readily available and legal substance, is pumped in to replace the oxygen. After a brief dizziness, you lose consciousness and die within minutes. The idea is that it should be quick, painless and easy.
7. AI Machine
In November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot dead. A senior official in Iran’s nuclear program, he was also a physicist and a brigadier general in their military. He was killed in a roadside ambush. But the manner in which the killing was carried out has raised some eyebrows.
Fakhrizadeh was hit by machine gun fire, but officials said his wife, who was sitting next to him in the car, was remarkably unharmed. The shooter's accuracy was a concern until it was discovered there was no shooter.
Iran says it was a machine gun mounted on a truck. It was fired autonomously, controlled by artificial intelligence linked to a satellite. No human intervention was required.
Thirteen bullets were fired, all from AI-controlled weapons. Four were aimed at the victim's head, while his wife, less than a foot away, was not injured at all. Initial reports said there was a shootout with human attackers, but this was later changed.
6. DMZ Machine Gun Robot
The DMZ between North and South Korea is a 160-mile stretch of land that no one is allowed to enter. The closely guarded border has become something of a nature preserve in recent years, home to many previously rare species. But not everything there is natural.
Samsung has made SGR-1 robots part of the DMZ's security systems. These machine gun-wielding robots are autonomous security guards designed to keep the region free of humans. One of the central outposts of the DMZ installed them in 2010 on a trial basis to test how reliable they were.
Using various sensors such as motion sensors, heat sensors and radar, the robots can detect anyone entering an area that does not belong there. An audio and video interface allows them to see who and what might be there and transmit a warning or accept a security clearance using voice recognition. If necessary, the robots can discharge 5.5 mm machine guns and an automatic grenade launcher. They also use non-lethal deterrents such as rubber bullets.
The units have already been deployed, although their numbers are hard to determine. However, the 2010 test run must have been convincing.
5. Lightning Cannon
Some guns look like they were designed for fans of the genre, and the Lightning Gun, made at Picatinny Arsenal, fits the bill. The laser-controlled lightning bolt traveled from the laser source to the target. Or, in layman's terms, they made a lightning rod.
In fact, the science was surprisingly complex, involving the physics of how light moves through air, how plasma forms, and how electrons can be separated. The main takeaway is that an enemy target, like a jeep or an airplane, is a much better conductor of electricity than the surrounding air. So you could direct lightning from a weapon to a target quite easily.
4. Solar gun
At some point in their lives, most kids get access to a magnifying glass and learn what happens when you concentrate sunlight. Not only is it a simple way to burn fallen leaves, but it has also been adapted for barbecuing with solar grills. Leave it to the Nazis to take this to ridiculous and evil levels.
Hermann Oberth, an honest rocket scientist, had a plan to build a giant mirror in space. This mirror would focus the sun's rays on the earth at any point the Nazis wanted. Like a child killing ants, this beam would scorch the earth and any army beneath it. At least that was the plan.
The plan was expected to cost millions and take more than 15 years to complete. There would have been an accompanying space station with hydroponic gardens and solar generators. The plans were said to be quite detailed, although nothing obviously came of it.
3. Bob Semple's Tank
Imagine you were tasked with trying to create a way to defend yourself against potential invaders. If some military force came for you, your town, and your family, what could you do? That is, assuming the military either didn't exist or was tied up somewhere else and unable to help? If you were New Zealand's Minister of Labor, Bob Semple, you built a homemade tank.
During World War II, New Zealand felt incredibly vulnerable. Japan had emerged as a force to be reckoned with, and had declared New Zealand a potential target. The country’s military was extremely small, and with allies around the world tied up in the war, there would be no help if Japan invaded. Semple set to work to find a way to protect his people.
Bob Semple's Tank, as it became known, was a tank he essentially built MacGyver-style from readily available parts. The chassis was a tractor, and the armor was corrugated manganese. There was no functioning gun turret, and it was difficult to maneuver on uneven terrain. Firing on the move was nearly impossible, and the top speed was no more than 10 miles per hour.
Although history has not been kind to the tank and it was the subject of ridicule at the time, it showed what ingenuity could do in a pinch. The armour was apparently quite effective and, armed with a few machine guns, they were certainly not machines anyone wanted to go toe-to-toe with.
2. Hell Machine
You may not have heard of Giuseppe Marco Fieschi, but the man who tried to assassinate France's King Louis Philippe back in 1835 has made a big contribution to the history of a completely obscure weapon.
Along with some of Fieschi's accomplices, the man known as a thief and having an affair with his stepdaughter became a political radical and plotted to assassinate the king. To do this, Fieschi developed what he called the "Infernal Machine" - a cannon with 25 barrels.
They set up a pistol in an apartment facing the street where the king was expected to appear. Each barrel was loaded with multiple shells and ready to kill. When the king arrived, they deployed the guns.
It didn't work quite as planned, and not every barrel fired. However, it was still terribly effective. Although the king was relatively unharmed, the weapon fired over 400 shells, killing 18 people. The king's horse was also fatally wounded.
1. Robot soldiers
Terminator has proven to be one of the most iconic sci-fi films and characters in cinema history. A ruthless killing machine from the future that, because it’s not human, has no emotions, no intelligence, no fear. It’s unstoppable. The idea that robots will rise up and destroy us is a staple of the genre, with examples ranging from The Matrix to I, Robot and beyond. This pop culture influence has led many of us, rightly or wrongly, to be suspicious of any robot we see. And that’s why Boston Dynamics’ Atlas is considered by many to be a creepy glimpse of what’s to come.
Most people know Boston Dynamics from their many videos featuring robot dogs. These creations can be seen towing cars, opening doors, and carrying gear for soldiers in the field. Every year, it seems like the company comes up with something more advanced. Something that looks smarter.
With Atlas, the company has moved into humanoid robots, and that's just a troubling idea for a lot of people. Whether it's because of the uncanny valley, or because our brains just don't like things that look human but clearly aren't, or something else, the future bodes ill for our ability to adapt to machines that can move like humans but may not be able to kill them.
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