Apparently their are “trust and confidence” issues when it comes to allowing robots to be used freely and frequently in the armed services. Some now want to fix that by giving robots a base of their own, so they can do their work and prove that they are reliable. Most battlefield robots are “tele-operated,” which means someone human is at the controls. The idea here would be to let the robots be almost completely autonomous. Apparently the idea is being pushed by advocates such as Bob Quinn, vice president of unmanned systems at QinetiQ and Jim Overholt, a senior robotic scientist at the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. The idea was discussed at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Conference recently in Washington. National Defense Magazine reports:
I’m in charge here, corporal
Currently, most battlefield ground robots are tele-operated, meaning they require someone to control the system from a stand-off distance. This method is labor intensive. Researchers have been developing software that would allow the machines to operate more freely, and take the workload off of troops.
Earlier in the conference, Maj. Gen. Walter R. Davis, deputy director and chief of staff of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, said that in order for ground robots to spread beyond their traditional roles as explosive ordnance disposal tools, proponents would have to make a business case that they can save the military money by reducing the number of personnel needed on battlefields.
Autonomous ground robots also need to gain the trust of senior leaders, Quinn said. Referring to a truck company that was displaying an autonomous 16-ton vehicle at the conference, Quinn said most people would find it frightening to know that there was no driver behind the wheel.
If there were a base where robots could operate more freely, and more hours and data could be collected, then some of these safety concerns could be addressed, Quinn said.
Robots on enclosed military bases is not without precedent. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2007 held the urban version of its Grand Challenge driverless vehicle competition on a shuttered Air Force base in California.
Davis said part of the cultural acceptance for robots will be the acknowledgment that accidents are going to happen. There could be injuries, or worse. How many such incidents can decision-makers tolerate?
“They will fail to properly function at some point,” Davis said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.