Robotic Hunting Packs [Edit]

The Pentagon is looking for a contractor to come up with a “multi-robot pursuit system to search for and detect an uncooperative human.” Yes, packs of robots will be sent to hunt down people like packs of dogs.

The software and sensor system will be controlled by a human operator. Potential scenarios include search and rescue, fire fighting and reconnaissance. The sensors could be those that detect human breath and the radio waves which betray a human heart beat.

However, New Scientist raised the question about whether the trend may lead to armed droids. The premier science magazine pointed out that since last year, iRobot is working with Taser International to mount tasers on their droids.

Imagine an army of armed robots in say a crowd control situation or even lethally armed droids controlled by just a single soldier in a war scenario.

The concerns expressed by experts in robotic engineering and police/military technologies is whether packs of hunting robots could be used responsibly and the tremendous risk to innocent bystanders could be adequately averted.