I’ve enjoyed Mark Rober’s videos for a while now. They are fun, touch on accessible topics, and have decent production value. But this recent video isn’t sitting right with me
The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrGENEXocJU
In it, he talks about a few techniques for how to take down “bad guy drones”, the problems with each, and then shows off the drone tech by Anduril as a solution.
Anduril aims to sell the U.S. Department of Defense technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics. Anduril’s major products include unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter-UAS (CUAS), semi-portable autonomous surveillance systems, and networked command and control software.
In the video, the Anduril product is a heavy drone that uses kinetic energy to destroy other drones (by flying into them). Quoting the person in the video:
imagine a children’s bowling ball thrown at twice as fast as a major league baseball fastball, that’s what it’s like getting hit by Anvil
This technology is scary for obvious reasons, especially in the wrong hands. What I also don’t like is how Mark Rober’s content is aimed at children, and this video includes a large segment advertising the children’s products he is selling. Despite that, he is promoting military technology with serious ethical implications.
There’s even a section in the video where they show off the Roadrunner, compare it against the patriot missiles, and loosely tie it in to defending against drones. While the Anvil could be used to hurt people, at least it is designed for small flying drones. The Roadrunner is not:
The Roadrunner is a 6 ft (1.8 m)-long twin turbojet-powered delta-winged craft capable of high subsonic speeds and extreme maneuverability. Company officials describe it as somewhere between an autonomous drone and a reusable missile. The basic version can be fitted with modular payloads such as intelligence and reconnaissance sensors. The Roadrunner-M has an explosive warhead to intercept UAS, cruise missiles, and manned aircraft.
That sounds like a solution without a problem. We already have guns that can shoot down drones and our own recon drones at every level from squad to corps.
That sounds like a solution without a problem.
After the trading of salvos between Iran and Israel, I think its a new entry in Delusion Olympics, as we spiral into a new kind of Cold War.
We already have guns that can shoot down drones and our own recon drones at every level from squad to corps.
Anti-air defenses are notorious for being a losing gambit. It costs more manpower and materials to block an opponent’s shot than it does to launch the volley, which is why threat of reprisal is still the most effective form of deterrence.
But nobody really likes the MAD end-game. So we have to build up this fantasy of an Iron Dome to convince ourselves that we can strike out without consequences.
The breathless enthusiasm for the military industrial complex while dropping scary descriptions of terrorism that hasn’t happened gave me exactly the same impression.
I hate this kind of content, especially from someone who seems like a pretty genuine person.
Please Mark: be a bit more critical.
Mark is not a genuine person he is a pretengineer. He can barely make a functional robot.
Backyard Scientist and Sripol however are the real deal.
Didn’t the guy work on the Mars Rover at nasa though?
Probably on some design stuff. If you look at his videos he never makes anything impressive. Just some mediocre junior tier engineering with good video production.
This video is no different. Backyard Scientist shows up with a functional shockwave blaster. Mark puts some elastics on rocket shaped foam and calls it a day.
I think it’s because Mark wants to interest a young audience rather than building some very complicated stuff little kids wouldn’t be able to do.
Not necessarily. Making a great product would only attract a younger audience more and make the videos far cooler. But that takes a ton of time. Way more than just painting a large cannon and strapping some elastics to it
Mark clearly tries to only deliver a minimum viable product for a single shot rather than an actually functional product.
He falls under the “shittyrobots” engineers that don’t just make shitty robots for fun, but because they can’t actually make non shitty robots which accomplish the desired goal of their video well. Some people such as “I Did A Thing” don’t try to hide it and make it part of the content. Mark is in the twilight zone of pretending he’s engineering complex stuff while not actually doing that.
Dude was a nasa engineer. Just because he doesn’t do the complicated stuff on yt doesn’t mean he’s not capable of doing so. I do wish he did complex stuff though.
Dude was a NASA engineer. This also says more about how low the bar is for NASA engineers than about Mark, as we can clearly see Mark is incapable of good engineering.
As people above have pointed out there are plenty of real engineers making real cool stuff and get views with it. It is not necessary to make a bad robot whatsoever. Hell there’s a reason Backyard Scientist got featured on the thumbnail.
Stuff made here. Tom Stanton. Peter Sripol. Backyard Scientist, James Bruton, Collin Furze, and many more. These people make amazing videos about prototypes that are actually functional and accomplish the goals they set out.
Mark does not meet the list of people who make amazing inventions for their videos that actually work. He makes painted trash that falls apart when touched. He makes shitty robots not because he wants to, but because he can’t make good ones. If any more people need to be triggered, Micheal Reeves also doesn’t meet this list.
Remember when he faked his first fart bomb video because he used his friends to play the part of the porch pirates? That was years ago.
Edit: My memory was a little fuzzy on exactly the nature of the incident was. See my follow up comment for a link to an article that explains what actually happened.
I’m sorry to be that guy but I’m genuinely curious. Source?
My memory of this was a little off, but here’s the source: Engadget
You should probably amend your original comment to clarify that the fake part of the video was done by one of the people who volunteered to put the package on their porch, which Mark at least claims he had no knowledge of. Also worth pointing out that the known fake part of the video has been removed.
Also worth pointing out that the known fake part of the video has been removed.
Removing the fake part of my video after its attracted enough views to get monetized and I realize I might actually get in trouble for it. Because I’m a stand up guy.
The whole “Porch Piracy Revenge” craze always felt like a guerrilla marketing campaign for Nextdoor and Ring. A mix of crime-wave hysteria and suburban sadism I haven’t seen since “Cops” became FOX’s most watched TV show.
Nice to see yet another layer in which it was painfully contrived.
