Robots in the Military
To what extent will robots change our understanding of work? According to “A robot with a reassuring touch” by John Markoff, the future workplace will be filled with robotic coworkers to take simple yet redundant jobs within factories and other work places including dangerous jobs. The New York Times article I found online during my research explains that these future robots are already in workplaces all over the United States and other countries such as Japan, China, Germany, and Korea. The robots are designed to move fast and with extreme precision. in fact, the robots work so fast that they become dangerous and need to be isolated from the human workers in order to keep people safe.
Imagine taking the power and precision of these engineered marvels and apply them into the most dangerous jobs known to man. The introduction of robotics within the military brings many advantages onto the combat field. One major advantage of robotics serving on the front lines is that they can steer our soldiers clear of danger and keep them out of harms way. Robots that are programmed and equipped with the technology required to find and eliminate enemies could be used in order to hunt terrorists. These tools can be used in order to aid human military personnels objectives such as neutralizing targets, detonating bombs, and completing dangerous missions all while our own human kind is safely monitoring the situations from behind a computer screen, miles away.
Robots have proved to be useful and efficient in all other workplaces thus far, so can a machine really replace a soldier? According to The Telegraph, the US Military has already considered replacing thousands of soldiers with robotic counterparts in order to cut costs and ensure the safety of soldiers by keeping them off the front lines. Not only will this move cut costs, but it is also aiding our current line of defense on the homeland. Currently, the military uses hundreds of different robotic technologies such as drones, which are used in order to monitor and track situations from the sky, and neutralize assured targets. On the field, our military uses many robots such as The iRobot Packbot which can disarm bombs in place of humans. Although these machines are controlled by humans they are none the less robots.
Google has in the past bought and acquired numerous military robotic companies in order to study and perfect technology for robots that can walk on all terrain. These robots are even more advanced than the Packbot or Drones and are essentially “autonomously” at work. Google is also known for working on numerous robots at once. One of their most famous robots, “The Atlas”, was just redesigned and shown off in February. The new Atlas Robot is designed to be a humanoid like military robot; meaning it appears human in nature. Atlas was created in order to perform disaster recovery missions in places no longer safe for humans to be. Whether this be from a natural disaster, or a military recovery mission, the Atlas is equipped and ready to handle even the scariest of situations.
One may ask, “How are robots going to be trained to join and fight for the military if they are autonomous? According to The New York Times article “A robot with a reassuring touch” by John Markoff, robots “will come equipped with a library of simple tasks, or behaviors” this will enable them to have a common idea of “sense”. The robot written about in the article ‘reassuring touch’, Baxter, is a new kind of robot for the workplace. This robot can complete tasks which are redundant while also having a range of safety features in place to protect the human workers from any injuries. The robot can be programmed, or as the creators call it, “training by demonstration” which essentially allows people to teach the robot how to do new skills. According to the article, “it will be possible to program Baxter, the Rethink designers avoid the term. Instead they talk about “training by demonstration.” For example, to pick up an object and move it, a human will instruct the robot by physically moving its arm and making it grab the object.” These next generation robots will increase the function as a personal assistant to the human workers in any given desired field including the Military. With the ability to program robots through a training process, it is clear to see how robots can become specialized in different fields, in this case, war.
The military is increasing their attention on how to make robots more autonomous. The goal is to figure out a way to allow them to operate on their own for extended periods of time including behind enemy lines. For these functions, systems like EATR, or, “Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot” are now being tested with the intention to gain its own power source to be always on. A majority of military robotic systems are tele-operated which means they are not equipped with weaponry; instead, they are used for surveillance, enemy detection, and neutralizing explosive devices. Current the military robots that are equipped with weapons are human operated so they are not capable autonomously killing.
Autonomous robotic machines are not created to be ethical, but to comply with the laws of war such as the prevention of pedestrian casualties. Having robots do the dirty work in place of humans will also reduce health risks such as post traumatic stress disorder that affects human soldiers decisions; there will be no effect on the battlefield caused by the decisions made by the individual. Still, this does not come without other issues. If these robots become lethal autonomous weapons it can be very dangerous for anyone who gets in its way.
That is why human rights groups and non-government organizations such as the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and Human Rights Watch have begun urging nato and the United Nations to issue policies in order to outlaw the development of these so-called "lethal autonomous weapons systems”. These organizations have had severe backlash from numerous governments including The United Kingdom which opposes such campaigns. England declared that "international humanitarian law already provides sufficient regulation for this area”. It is inevitable that the governments of the world will adapt to changing technologies and adopt and develop necessary equipment in order to stay ahead of other countries. For it is no surprise that the United States, and England thumbed their noses at the Human Rights Groups who call for peace and prosperity.
Can the only real way to world peace be through a strong military? I believe so, and so does many researchers. According to The New York Times, a strong military keeps the real life threats of war relatively small. In the case of world powers, “two sides have clashing interests, neither side wants strategic competition to descend into conflict. Managing the competition calls for sophisticated statecraft”. What this means is that two powerful countries do not want to go to war with each other because it is a conflict of interest economically and globally if they lose. When it comes to terrorism, powerful militaries are needed in order to prevent these criminals from taking over entire countries and creating chaos. Imagine how much worse Al Quada and Isis could be if world organizations hadn't come together in order to fight back and prevent the hostile take over of land.
With the development and further research of the AI Artificial Intelligence systems, robots will become more useful in time of war. These future like machines will reduce the casualties of our own soldiers by taking them out of the equation when it comes to fighting. Health risks such as PTSD post traumatic stress disorder, will affect far less soldiers. Terrorist organizations will be under better surveillance while enemies will be tracked and eliminated.
Although some may argue that these lethal autonomous machines may be unethical, all killing is considered unethical. Why is it any better to have a human kill another human; to feel the repercussions for the rest of their life? It seems unethical to even have someone waste their time and energy on terrorist criminals when a machine can do the job faster and feel no repercussions afterwards. After much research, I believe the adoption of robots in the military will be beneficial to society. It is an inevitable change by a fast and changing world in order to stay ahead of the competition and keep the people of our country safe.
Farmer, Ben. "US Army Considers Replacing Thousands of Troops with Robots." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016.
Markoff, John. "A Robot With a Reassuring Touch." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 May 2016.
Blumenthal, Dan. "A Strong Military Keeps the Threat of War Small." N.p., 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 8 May 2016.
Weinberger, Casper ”The Uses of Military Power." PBS, n.d. Web.
