Flashlight "Weapon"

[Trogdor]

Wow, this actually looks pretty cool!

It looks like a big flashlight — but it's really a nonlethal weapon designed to make you sick. Its inventors call it the LED Incapacitator (L-E-D, as in light-emitting diode). Weapons buffs call it a nonlethal weapon. But test subjects who have buckled and reeled from its nauseating strobe call it other names—none printable. A flashlight designed to make you nauseatingly ill? What fiendish minds would invent such a tool? The minds of Bob Lieberman and Vladimir Rubtsov, president and senior scientist of Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., a small R&D company in Torrance, CA. Under a multiphase contract from the S&T Directorate’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Office, with technical direction from S&T program manager Gerald Kirwin, the two physicists are refining an ultra-bright, multicolored, pulsing “lightsaber” that’s more disorienting, dazzling, and dizzying—though a tad less dangerous—than disco. It’s enough to make you sick. And that, Lieberman says, is not always a bad thing. How does the LED Incapacitator incapacitate? By simultaneously overwhelming the subject both physiologically (temporarily blinding him) and psychophysically (disorienting him). A built-in rangefinder measures the distance to the nearest pair of eyeballs. Then, a “governor” sets the output and pulse train (a series of pulses and rests) to a level, frequency, and duration that are effective, but safe. The colors and pulses continuously change, leaving no time for the brain or eyes to adapt. After a few minutes, the effects wear off. The light could be used to make a bad guy turn away or shut his eyes, giving authorities enough time to tackle the suspect and apply the cuffs … all while sparing the lives of passersby, hostages, or airline passengers. An animated cross section shows how red, green, and blue LEDs are focused through an optical plate. “There are often confrontations at border crossings with suspected illegal aliens or drug runners,” Lieberman says. “You don’t want to hurt or kill them, just take them into custody. With this,” he smiles, “they don’t need to know English to comply.” Output and size can easily be scaled up to fit the need; immobilizing a mob, for instance, might call for a wide-angle “bazooka” version. Scaling down is more difficult. At 15 inches long by 4 inches wide, the current prototype is more transportable than portable. The next-generation weapon must be as short and svelte as a D-cell Maglite, designed to fit on a duty belt. “Phase 3 will be our shrink phase,” Lieberman says. This fall, in Phase 2, researchers at Pennsylvania State University will test the LED Incapacitator on volunteers at the school’s Institute of Nonlethal Defense Technology. Intelligent Optical Systems will use the test results to evaluate design features and tweak the strobe’s pattern and colors. “There’s one wavelength that gets everybody,” says Lieberman. “Vlad calls it the evil color.” Further tests are scheduled for the fall, and production could begin by December. By 2010, the LED Incapacitator could be in the hands of thousands of policemen, border agents, and National Guardsmen.

[Bungleau]

Looks impressive... but what if there are *two* bad guys?

[Firestormalpha]

that's in part why most law enforcement personel travel in pairs. Well, not always. But they also mentioned versions capable of disabling entire mobs. Instant riot supression without having to cause undue injury. Also the police won't have to take so much flak for "using excessive force" when they tazer uncoopertive traffic stops. They'll just make em nautious and drag em in.

[Bungleau]

But reading the tech specs, it "finds" the eyeballs of the closest person, and sets up its light show based on that. Whoever's *NOT* closest has time to react... shoot... you get the picture...

I don't disagree with the technology or the usefulness... I'm just sayin' there might be a little loophole in there..

[Iron Greasel]

Whoah. I wonder what it does to people with photosensitive epilepsy. Glad to see that the fascinating science of death rays is advancing, with that microwave heat gun and now this. We'll have Tesla cannons in no time. And after that, we just need flying cars.

[Firestormalpha]

Well, for "Tesla-cannons", from what I recall of Future Weapons, a show on discovery channel, there are already prototypes in the works. They even have one in the form of a briefcase, more of a stun gun type though. Another weapon they'd been working on is a highly directional speaker which can emit sounds at levels far beyond human tolerance, resulting in nausea, dizziness, and one heck of a headache. Kinda like the flash light but no need to focus on one person. to either side of the soundwave emmiter you hear almost nothing, step in front of it and BAM, you get the full force.

[Bungleau]

Hmmm... I guess that means that the sonic screwdriver is coming up later on...

[Jorath Calar]

Here is a better flashlight weapon...

[Legolas]

So what happens when you're wearing shades?

[pritchke]

What effect does it have on people with seizures or epilepsy? Just curious due to warnings on some video games and stuff.