Fighting Zombies with Automated Ghosts

Researchers have chosen a site near Hobbs, New Mexico, to build an automated ghost town, empty of human inhabitants. The town will function as if it were a real human town, but it will be controlled by advanced automation and communications networks. In case of a zombie apocalypse, it is hoped that zombies will be attracted to the carefully simulated town, where they can be trapped, destroyed, and properly disposed of according to government regulations.

Associated Press

A scientific ghost town in the heart of southeastern New Mexico oil and gas country will hum with the latest next-generation technology - but no people.

A $1 billion city without residents will be developed in Lea County near Hobbs, officials said Tuesday, to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets -- in an attempt to create a zombie trap, in case of a zombie apocalypse.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said the unique ... empty city will be a key for protecting the nearby human community from zombies, by acting as a type of bait and trap. _AP

The plan is to conduct a controlled release of groups of 50 to 100 zombies at random locations midway between Hobbs and the automated ghost town. The zombies will be fitted with tracking devices and their locations will be monitored closely throughout each experiment. Zombies which stray too closely to the human settlement of Hobbs will be either trapped and relocated, or will be destroyed in place, depending upon the assessed threat by officials on the scene.

As groups of zombies shuffle into the automated ghost town, proximity detectors will be triggered, and reactive systems will automatically activate. The zombies will be unwittingly herded into a specially designed "zombie kill zone" area in the middle of the ghost town, where they will be reduced to atomic particles for later conversion into fuels, high value chemicals, and fertilizers. In this way it is hoped that the zombie apocalypse can be turned to the benefit of the human survivors.

The New Mexico town is considered a prototype automated zombie trap ghost community, which will facilitate advance preparation work to minimize the impact of the full scale zombie apocalypse, when it eventually occurs. We can only hope that there will be time to apply the lessons learned.