Robots: The Future of Warfare?

Last Fall during the U.S. Army’s Robotics Rodeo two small Piper Cub flew over a village and within minutes spotted their target, a tarp staked to the ground, and, being unable to navigate the streets, radioed for help. Soon afterwards a blue Porsche Cayenne, operated without any humans at the controls, drove down the streets, seeking out the sent GPS coordinates. The planes continued to circle overhead, gathering more information about the targets and its surrounding. In less than half of an hour the SUV had zeroed in on its quarry. This is one example of the usefulness of robots and what they bring to warfare. These fully autonomous robots could help keep soldiers out of harm’s way through things like searching out hidden explosives. However, there are some downfalls that make relying entirely on these autonomous robots impossible. They are often put in situations that are not designed in their programming and their responses cannot be accurately predicted. Some of the most advanced robots carry dozens of sensors, including high-resolution night-vision cameras, 3-D imagers, and acoustic arrays, yet cannot even differentiate a bush from a dog. Humans are still needed to interpret data and coordinate tasks among multiple systems, and in the near future this is how it is likely to remain. Some argue that robots should never be able to act and make decisions completely on their own.

For more information, visit this IEEE Spectrum article.

Picture found here.