Why are robots and cyborgs from the future such bad shots?

[techs]

For unstoppable killing machines they sure do miss a lot.

What's up with that?

 

[dighn]

robocop's a prety good host

 

[akahoovy]

The servo's/actuators aren't great at hitting close, fast-moving targets?

 

[jaedaliu]

Optics get knocked out of alignment during time travel.

You'll have to ask future programmers why they decided to make the robots and cyborgs without closed loop feedback in their targetting algorithms.

 

[darkewaffle]

Crappy programming.

 

[Jeeebus]

They're using an advanced version of Apple maps to pinpoint the precise location of their targets.

 

[AdamK47]

Crappy movie script writer.

 

[Spungo]

Crappy programming.

This. Real life robots are exceptionally good at shooting things. They can shoot down anti-ship missiles using bullets. There is also a new type of sniper rifle that can auto adjust for a lot of things like distance, air temperature, air density, and wind. It will use a laser to identify the target then the gun doesn't fire until the barrel is pointed properly.

Those are examples where the gun is specifically designed to work with the robot. Robocop was like that too. He used a specific gun, not any random weapon. Something like a terminator would be a lot harder to do because they use a wider variety of weapons.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Humans knew the machines would turn on them, and programmed them to miss accordingly. It's not the machines fault the humans freak out and run into the line of fire.

 

[Spungo]

Humans knew the machines would turn on them, and programmed them to miss accordingly. It's not the machines fault the humans freak out and run into the line of fire.

This is why new Battlestar Galactica is the worst show ever made. They stay behind cover until the robots start shooting then they stand up and get mowed down.

 

[Murloc]

This is why new Battlestar Galactica is the worst show ever made. They stay behind cover until the robots start shooting then they stand up and get mowed down.

lol I hate scenes where they do that.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm stretching here, but in the case of the Terminator he probably wouldn't have any wind or air density measurement devices due to the design limitations of being covered in human skin. And being from the future he primary used laser weapons anyway. That really don't make sense though as he's usually firing from close range (where air density and wind aren't going to matter as much) and obviously has a lot of files on how to use conventional weapons. He should be pretty unstoppable with them.

So, given those thoughts I'm going with this. Based on the timeline of the original Terminator movie I think the Terminator is using one of those early Pentium processors that had a bug in the floating point unit resulting in inaccurate calculations all the time.

 

[Kadarin]

Because if they were really good shots, the main characters would quickly get killed off and that would be it for the movie. That would kinda suck.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Their programming is designed to target large groups of individuals as they would typically be deployed en masse so accuracy isn't a priority as much as coverage spread and rate of fire.

 

[BurnItDwn]

They are intentionally made bad shots so that the story is not as short. If they were good shots the story would end as soon as they got within range.

In order to keep the suspense up, they have to be able to get "close" and personal.

 

[Oyeve]

They are obviously better shots than clones.

 

[Exterous]

This is why new Battlestar Galactica is the worst show ever made. They stay behind cover until the robots start shooting then they stand up and get mowed down.

Unfortunately a lot of shows do things like this. I remember watching Jericho - an otherwise very entertaining show - and in the big battle people used hay bales and cars are 'prepared positions' against assault rifles instead of digging into the ground

 

[Dirigible]

Future robots and cyborgs are used to easy targets. That's why.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Reconsidering this question, I am dubious as to the validity of the assumption that futuristic cyborgs actually are bad shots. In Terminator 2, Arnold has a few opportunities to shoot at the T-1000 (with a sawed-off shotgun, 9mm handgun and M4 that I can recall). Every single shot he fires at the T-1000 hits center mass, with the exception of a shotgun headshot when the T-1000 pries open the elevator doors in the asylum. Apart from that, we see Arnold sweeping an area swarming with policeman with minigun fire and hitting exactly zero people (which was his goal), and shooting an awful lot of kneecaps (again, intentional). I'd say his hit ratio for intended targets is in the range of 99% or so. That's pretty damn good. The T-1000 has a similar hit ratio, they just happen to all go into Arnold rather than vulnerable humans. In fact, the only person in that movie who completely whiffs on shooting is Sarah when she goes after Dyson and fires out 30 rounds against an unsuspecting target only to land a single arm shot.

It's been long enough since I've seen any other futuristic cyborg shooting media that I don't remember their accuracy, but it seems to me the original Terminator had Arnold take out an entire police station with robotic accuracy. So, I'm changing my answer to "they don't miss a lot."

 

[techs]

In TSCC and BSG the artificial life forms routinely miss easy shots.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

In TSCC and BSG the artificial life forms routinely miss easy shots.

That's TV where you don't want to kill off characters because you don't know if your show runs 10 episodes or 200. You don't have the same issues in a 2 hour movie; you decide your story beforehand and everything is ready to go before any film starts rolling. So really, it's just robots and cyborgs on TV shows who are terrible shots and it all comes down to the cowardice of TV producers who don't want to take a chance and risk audience alienation by killing off main characters.

 

[Paratus]

That's TV where you don't want to kill off characters because you don't know if your show runs 10 episodes or 200. You don't have the same issues in a 2 hour movie; you decide your story beforehand and everything is ready to go before any film starts rolling. So really, it's just robots and cyborgs on TV shows who are terrible shots and it all comes down to the cowardice of TV producers who don't want to take a chance and risk audience alienation by killing off main characters.

So cyborg and robots would be more accurate if they were written by GRRM us what you are saying?

 

[techs]

So cyborg and robots would be more accurate if they were written by GRRM us what you are saying?

Half the Starks would have survived the Red Wedding.

 

[WHAMPOM]

For unstoppable killing machines they sure do miss a lot.

What's up with that?

For the same reason one good guy armed with a revolver can take down eight bad guys armed with thirty round machine pistols. And outrun the blast from an exploding car/plane/ building.

 

[desura]

I'd say that it's because robot arms still can't match the precision and speed of a human hand and arm.