“We’ve been having some problems with the last batch of security drones that we purchased,” said Don Russo, procurement officer for the Texas Department of Corrections.
“Are you referring to the death of the inmate at Huntsville State Prison?” asked Mark Rylance, DroneTech sales chief. “We cooperated fully with the investigation and it proved to be an incidence of user error on the part of one of your operators. There was no mechanical or software error, the PA-350 did exactly what it was commanded to do.”
“Yeah, the young man we hired had been up all night playing a video game called Hit Man and fell asleep at his control station. When he woke up, he was confused. He thought he was still playing the game at home and…” he exhaled. “It was a terrible waste. One of the terms of his probation is that he can no longer work as a drone pilot. All that training down the drain.”
“Yes, Don. In these systems, the human being is always the weakest link in the chain.”
“Tell me about it. Remember when that fool spilled his Monster Energy Drink all over his controller and it shot up the prison commissary? Forty dollars worth of candy and snacks destroyed – that we would have been able to sell for two-hundred bucks. What a waste. And those three inmates we had to patch up. They weren’t able to work for over a month. Well, what can you do?”
“Our development team has been working on something that may be able to help. All of your previous purchases have been from our PA line – Piloted and Armed. But we also have the AA line, designed for the military, that’s Autonomous and Armed. No pilot, so no error.”
“I thought we couldn’t use autonomous systems in a civilian environment.”
“Who’s to know? The only difference in outward appearance is the model number. I could sell you some AA-350s that are branded as PA-350s and you can just feed your pilots the training program. They’ll never know that they’re not piloting real drones.”
“Can I see one in action?”
“Sure, let’s go down to the testing range.”
Mark led Don down an elevator to the testing range located in a secure sub-basement. The AA-350 units were lined up on one side and targets – representing inmates, guards and visitors – were lined up on the other. Mark flipped a switch and the drones began firing at the targets. All of the prisoners were struck down with multiple rounds while the civilians remained unscathed.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” said Don. “No mistakes. Perfectly safe.”
“Come on,” said Mark. “Stand up here with me by the targets. We won’t get hit since we’re not chipped prisoners.”
Don joined him and he flipped the switch. A few moments later, Don was bleeding out on the floor.
“Whoops,” he said, “Forgot I had a chip in my pocket from a discharged prisoner that I brought for you to refurbish. Human err…”
Literature in Small Doses 