Military robots can leave operators at home

MILITARY robots could soon be carrying out dangerous missions abroad while their operators control them remotely from back home in the US.

Ground robots, unlike drones, are limited to line-of-sight control, but the US army's Long Distance Tele-Operation system (LDTO) will add cellular radio so they can be controlled remotely via a secure web portal. This uses a customised interface with a video link to the robot's cameras.

Robots equipped with this long-distance control, developed by the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Centre (TARDEC) based at Warren, Michigan, could carry out much longer missions.

However, there is still an issue with latency - the lag in communication between operator and robot. Drones rarely need to make sharp turns, but ground robots manoeuvre constantly to avoid obstacles and even a half-second lag makes driving more difficult. The US navy recently tested an intelligence-gathering system based on Autonomous Solutions' Chaos robot that helps overcome this. This has more autonomy than existing robots and can avoid obstacles on its own.

In the future, ground robots could be dropped close to the target area and carry out a mission while the operator remains back at base or in the US. It would also allow a central pool of bomb-disposal experts to virtually move from incident to incident in different countries.

However, some worry that this will pave the way for armed, autonomous robots on the battlefield. "This is another step towards automating death," warns roboticist Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield in the UK.

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