Military Robotics History

The history of military robotics dates back to World War II and the Cold War. During those times of spying, weaponry and strategic attacks, these robots were in the form of Germany’s type of robotics and Russian weaponry called “teletanks”. It originated combined with a radio controlled boat intended to use by the military from Nicola Tesla. As the Soviets had created the teletanks, they were modified to be controlled by the radio signals. Weather conditions made it pretty tough to use, but their signal reaches roughly five hundred to fifteen hundred meters away. Soon these teletanks were equipped with machine guns, flamethrowers, and a smoke container for smokescreens. Next, it formed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which …show more content…
For example, putting an injured or badly damaged soldier can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars compared to a robotic part being replaced for only a few thousand or around ten thousand dollars to just replace a robot. According to the Indo Asian News Service, it would cost more to even train a squad of military soldiers versus putting the investment in science and technology where robotic drones can be ready to test on the battlefield. Hardly anyone has the money to help or heal a damaged soldier versus getting cheap robotic parts from other countries such as Japan, China, Germany, India, Russia and England for bulk prices. It is pretty easy to create a robot ready to fulfill its particular job versus having to train new recruits into soldiers for years and then still training them to take on the other countries to adapt to their environment. Joyce Conant, a writer for the U.S military, mentioned how cognitive robotics leader Troy Kelley needed to only focus on putting human cognition into the robot to act more humanely to solve problems in critical situations. If you think about, military robot drones are being created by the minute, increasing their own technological population. Furthermore for an example, these robotic drones have no emotions as distractions from doing a task and they can work constantly like a factory compared to a human who needs the required eight hours of resting and recovering. In “Ethical Robots and Warfare”, Arkin makes a claim on his view that machines are plain autonomous, meaning they are already programmed to start working and do not have to contend with self-preservation. Arkin focuses on how the robotic drones behave more humanely and possess more ethics than soldiers. Since the robot is set to do its goal with no interruptions, it will finish the job without failing. Coming across