Robots at War

Abstract

Abstract Unmanned systems are being used in almost every realm of war, moving more and more soldiers out of danger and allowing their enemies to be targeted with increasing precision. They are also changing the experience of war itself, leading some of the first generation of soldiers working with robots to worry that war waged by remote control from distant locations will come to seem too easy, too tempting. This chapter discusses the development of robot systems; robotic advantages; the human role in war given the increasing use of robots; and whether human warriors will eventually be rendered obsolete. Robotics offers the public and their leaders the lure of riskless warfare. However, wars are never simple. They are by their very nature complex, messy, and unpredictable. And this will remain the case even as unmanned systems increasingly substitute for humans.