News

Armed Robots Could Be On Our Battlefields Within 5 Years

From the title of this article I bet there are many of you that were expecting something like the T-800 holding a sub machine gun… thankfully that is not what we can expect, at least not yet. What you can expect to hit our battlefields in the next few years is effectively a Wall-E with a few big guns welded to it.

There are four major robotics companies pitching their ideas, HDT Robotics, iRobot, Northrop Grumman and QinetiQ. The new range of robots were fitted with M240 machine guns and put through live-fire demonstrations at Fort Benning, an event that was nicknamed the “Robotic Rodeo”.

“They’re not just tools, but members of the squad. That’s the goal,” Lt. Col. Willie Smith, chief of Unmanned Ground Vehicles at Fort Benning told Computerworld. “A robot becoming a member of the squad, we see that as a matter of training.”

The robots were able to hit targets that were 500 feet away, while showing performance that could see them put to duty within five years. While sending them out to fight as armoured killing machines is one likely purpose, it is more likely that they will serve as support for human soldiers due to the many other features that they incorporate.

Automatic weapons, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers and more can be strapped to these things, but it is also cable of carrying 1,000 pounds of weight, it can charge batteries and power other systems (it is effectively a generator) and can go through areas that are not safe for humans, making it just another vital survival tool.

Thank you Wired for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of The Terminator and Wired.

Peter Donnell

As a child still in my 30's (but not for long), I spend my day combining my love of music and movies with a life-long passion for gaming, from arcade classics and retro consoles to the latest high-end PC and console games. So it's no wonder I write about tech and test the latest hardware while I enjoy my hobbies!

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 Possible Price Revealed

According to a new report, the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU will be very expensive. It…

13 hours ago

AMD Krackan Processor with 6 Zen 5 and Zen 5c Cores for Budget AI Laptops Leaked

A new AMD processor in the form of an engineering model has been leaked in…

13 hours ago

SK Hynix Begins Production of First 321-Layer NAND Chips

SK Hynix has claimed to be the first company to mass-produce 321-layer NAND memory chips.…

14 hours ago

Trust Gaming GXT 609 Zoxa 2.0 PC Speakers

SOUNDS GREAT – Full stereo sound (12W peak power) gives your setup a booming audio…

18 hours ago

PowerA Wired Controller for Nintendo Switch

Special Edition Yoshi design Ergonomic controller shape with Nintendo Switch button layout Detachable 10ft (3m)…

18 hours ago

Logitech G Saitek PRO Flight Rudder Pedals

Fluid Motion: These flight rudder pedals are smooth and accurate that enable precise control over…

18 hours ago