Israel has quietly become a world leader in robotic weaponry. After deploying the first unmanned aircraft in 1981, Israel developed unmanned ground vehicles and speedboats, and even border guard robo-snipers and camouflaged robot snakes. (Plus a nine-inch tall robot that shoots hostiles with a mini Uzi submachine gun…) Israel’s goal is to robotize one-third of its military machinery in the next 10-15 years, and for peacetime applications, they’ve also developed a robotic prosthetic hand and a bionic retina implant.
Tel Aviv skyline. Photo: Deanb (CC)
But this article also notes that Israel’s “Renewable Energy Initiative” seeks to replace all fossil fuel with renewable resources, primarily solar, within the next 10 years. (One Israeli company even signed a deal recently to build solar energy farms in California and Nevada.) Israel aims to be the first nation with a national electric car network, fully operational by late 2011, and Israeli engineers are also developing hydrogen fuel.
Interesting trivia: 22% of the world’s Nobel Prizes went to Israelis…
