Rise of the Groundbot Grunts

According to a recent article in Wired, about one in fifty troops in Afghanistan is a robot.  Most of these "groundbots" are unimpressive, frail, tank-treaded rollers built for dealing with potentially devastating ordinances like landmines and bombs.  They are not the Terminator, however given the rising interest in robotics the world over, it's not far-fetched to ask, “How long until the first large-scale man-less robot war?”  And "Is such a war actually desirable?" 

“Groundbots first made inroads among bomb-disposal units. The human bomb-techs could take cover and steer in a remote-controlled Talon or PackBot to disable a dangerous explosive device. But a third of the 1,400 fresh groundbots deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010 weren’t for EOD, Thompson pointed out during a presentation at a Washington, D.C. trade show “Robots are not just for explosive ordnance disposal teams anymore … They [ground troops] are using them in ways we never expected.”

Most of the declassified groundbots look like jacked-up RC toy cars with a single robotic arm on top; and they have saved lives.  Though, if one searches around on the net, there are unmanned tanks, unmanned bombers, spy drones the size of a dragonfly, and other mechanical wonders that look a little more dangerous.  Russia Today had a short piece in January of last year highlighting some of the nastier groundbots which, unlike the bomb disposal bots, are more or less unmanned assault rifles and rocket launchers moving about on tank treads.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SLEtVlU15Q)

The most impressive declassified project in military robotics is doubtlessly Boston Dynamic’s freakish quadruped BigDog, videos of which have gained some popularity on the web.

But where is all this leading?  Is this actually progress?  Many may see this in the negative.  That man-to-man war or machine-to-machine war is still humanness at it’s most juvenile and dangerous.   One day soon a parent will receive a letter with the letters “KIA” stamped on the top and the reason will read: “ROBOT.”Tweet