Newswise — Over the past decade, military leaders have increasingly embraced the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other robotic systems to handle the "three D's"--the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks of war. Back in 2000, the U.S. Department of Defense had fewer than 50 UAVs in its inventory; by early 2010, it had more than 7000. In 2009, the U.S. Air Force started training more pilots to operate unmanned systems than to fly fighters and bombers. And according to market intelligence firm ABI Research, 65 countries now use military robots or are in the process of acquiring them.
Despite the advances in both their performance and safety, these robots are still far from perfect, and they routinely operate in situations for which they may not have been designed and in which their responses cannot always be anticipated. Some of the DOD's most advanced UAVs carry dozens of sensors, including high-resolution night-vision cameras, 3-D imagers, and acoustic arrays. Yet most cannot distinguish a sleeping dog from a bush, even at high noon. Human operators are still needed to control the vehicles, interpret the data, and coordinate tasks among multiple systems. If we are ever to see fully autonomous robots enter the battlefield--those capable of planning and carrying out missions and learning from their experiences--several key technological advances are needed, including improved sensing, more agile testing, and seamless interoperability. Even then, a basic question will remain: How can we equip these robots to make critical decisions on their own?
RSS