Pentagon's Robots: Arming the Future

Robots have stepped out of the science fiction pages and onto the battlefield. Thousands are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. Some robots cost as little as several thousand dollars each. Controlled remotely by soldiers, sailors, and airmen, they perform tasks such as disarming roadside bombs, scouting danger­ous territory, and patrolling the sky. As technology advances, robots will become increas­ingly autonomous of human supervision, providing new cutting-edge national security applications that could give the U.S. military significant competitive ad­vantages. Robots on the battlefield will not bring an age of "bloodless" push-button warfare nor provide "silver-bullet" solutions to every combat challenge, but they can offer U.S. forces tactical advantages for outfighting both conventional (regular armed forces) and uncon­ventional (e.g., terrorists and insurgents) enemies. The U.S. government should continue prudent investments in robotic technologies, particularly for autonomous operations--an area of research not adequately supported by commercial research and development. Congress can help by establishing a framework that will facilitate national security re­search and development programs and by addressing concerns about the risk to humans with legislative guidelines for liability and safety issues in research, development, and procurement.