Thinking robots go to war in fight for survival:

‘With a hiss and a clank, one of the world’s first predatory robots seized its metal prey yesterday, plunged a claw into its electronic heart and then whirred off to a computerised mate to “breed”.

“It’s pure survival of the fittest,” said Noel Sharkey, happily preparing another victim for the arena in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where the frontiers of artificial intelligence yesterday took a dramatic leap forward.

Designed to mature robotic “thinking”, to allow machines to adapt and survive in extreme conditions without human help, the tests mimic a child’s development with eerie accuracy.

Predators and prey do battle – from next month in front of human audiences at the £42m Magna science centre – for limited supplies of electric power, storing the lessons of victory and defeat in their micro-computers.’ Guardian UK

[The Comedy Channel is probably beating down their door for a t.v. contract… -FmH]