# Are the combat robots the US Military have developed any good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890 "2005-06-04T15:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/1 "2005-06-04T15:40:15Z")
Hi all, It has been some time since the deployment of remote-controlled combat robots, developed by the US Military, for use in Iraq. Are they any good? Are any more improvements planned? Anyone suggested an AI for them yet? Would combat droids be reality in about ten or twenty years time? Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/2 "2005-06-04T15:47:15Z")
They’re being used as much as possible to clear IEDs from the roads our convoys are using. I would think _that_ qualifies them as “being good”. Rather to [send a robot](http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123010674) than a person to render safe a bomb. Tripler . . . especially a ‘command detonated’ bomb. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/3 "2005-06-04T18:47:12Z")
The British Army started using robots simmilar to those in **Tripler’s** link in Northern Ireland since 1972. Presumably they would have given up on them long ago if they were rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/4 "2005-06-04T20:08:13Z")
If one includes cruise missiles and remote control spy planes… I would say they seem to be pretty useful. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/5 "2005-06-04T21:52:52Z")
As the commandant of the military academy that Lisa and Bart go to in the Simpsons episode 4F21 so nicely puts it: _The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always, your duty is clear: to build and maintain those robots. Thank you._ And now that scientists at Cornell University have created self-replicating robots ([http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7815160/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7815160/)), even that may become unnecessary. Now if only the terrorists targeted these robots… ---
**Author:** ![Phillip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Phillip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phillip)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/6 "2005-06-04T21:58:23Z")
> [@ExtraKun](#): > > Hi all, > > It has been some time since the deployment of remote-controlled combat robots, developed by the US Military, for use in Iraq. Are they any good? Are any more improvements planned? Anyone suggested an AI for them yet? Would combat droids be reality in about ten or twenty years time? > > Thanks in advance! Yes…I…am…very…good. Kill…kill…kill. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/7 "2005-06-05T01:07:39Z")
Semi-autonomous killer robots work just fine, and have for some time - I’m talking about guided missiles and torpedoes. No one thinks of them as robots, but that’s what they are, for all practical purposes - Machines that are designed to hunt down and destroy their targets. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/8 "2005-06-05T03:25:38Z")
Are there any field reports regarding those robots in Iraq? Have they been engaged in actual combat? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-combat-robots-the-us-military-have-developed-any-good/306890/9 "2005-06-05T03:36:20Z")
> [@ExtraKun](#): > > Are there any field reports regarding those robots in Iraq? Have they been engaged in actual combat? Well, if you consider the [Predator](http://www.af.mil/history/aircraft.asp?dec=1990&pid=123006556) and Global Hawk, then yes. The Predator was fitted with Hellfire missiles, and has been credited with several ‘kills’ against targets. They may not look like the [Cyberdyne Systems T800](http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/t800techdata.html), but they _are_ robotic machines. But from what I think you’re getting at: no. There are no self-autonomous machines roving around the battlefield yet that actively select their own targets for prosecution. As **Tranquilis** mentioned, the robots that _are_ out there need some sort of active human programming for targeting. Tripler Don’t worry. SKYNET hasn’t become self-aware just yet. . .