Spring Break
U.S. Army plans next generation of military robots
Issue date: 3/13/08
When it comes to the war on terror, Talon has been there from the beginning - helping in search-and-rescue efforts at Ground Zero, hunting for Osama bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan and charging into Iraq since 2003.
But Talon isn't your average soldier. It's a robot. And it's started carrying a machine gun.
Gun-wielding robots on the loose - sounds like the plot of the latest blockbuster science fiction movie. But the military is already using thousands of robots in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Pentagon reportedly plans to spend $2 billion on robots in the next five years. So are autonomous armed robots the next step? This was the topic of debate last week at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
The military think-tank heard arguments from Pentagon-funded researchers who are hoping to develop robots with ethics and moral guidelines.
Others, fearing a rise of the machines, demand the prohibition of autonomous weaponry until it can be certain these "killer robots" have a conscience - more Iron Giant, less Terminator.
Those working on giving robots a sense of right and wrong hope to develop a system where the machine would question orders it deemed unethical. Human operators would then be notified and could force the robot to continue its course of action or yield to the robot's moral judgment.
One prototype currently under development, a 235-pound robot with an M240B machine gun, can be programmed not to shoot in certain zones so as to protect against friendly fire.
But for now, armed robotic weaponry still has human beings calling the shots - literally - via remote control.
The Talon brand of robots includes Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detections Systems or SWORDS. Designed by technology development company Foster-Miller, these machine gun-toting robots arrived in Iraq in June but did not fire a single shot due to unspecified technical errors.
Talon SWORDS currently cost $230,000 before mass production. Each unarmed version of Talon costs $60,000. America has an annual defense budget of $500 billion.
But Talon isn't your average soldier. It's a robot. And it's started carrying a machine gun.
Gun-wielding robots on the loose - sounds like the plot of the latest blockbuster science fiction movie. But the military is already using thousands of robots in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Pentagon reportedly plans to spend $2 billion on robots in the next five years. So are autonomous armed robots the next step? This was the topic of debate last week at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
The military think-tank heard arguments from Pentagon-funded researchers who are hoping to develop robots with ethics and moral guidelines.
Others, fearing a rise of the machines, demand the prohibition of autonomous weaponry until it can be certain these "killer robots" have a conscience - more Iron Giant, less Terminator.
Those working on giving robots a sense of right and wrong hope to develop a system where the machine would question orders it deemed unethical. Human operators would then be notified and could force the robot to continue its course of action or yield to the robot's moral judgment.
One prototype currently under development, a 235-pound robot with an M240B machine gun, can be programmed not to shoot in certain zones so as to protect against friendly fire.
But for now, armed robotic weaponry still has human beings calling the shots - literally - via remote control.
The Talon brand of robots includes Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detections Systems or SWORDS. Designed by technology development company Foster-Miller, these machine gun-toting robots arrived in Iraq in June but did not fire a single shot due to unspecified technical errors.
Talon SWORDS currently cost $230,000 before mass production. Each unarmed version of Talon costs $60,000. America has an annual defense budget of $500 billion.
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