Armed Battle Field Robot: Photo courtesy QinetiQ. The Maars system robot (left) can be equipped with four grenade launchers and a machine gun that packs 400 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition.
Increasingly robots are being used in warfare and many new efforts have been undertaken in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere to try to limit human casualties among soldiers through the use of robotic substitutes. While the use of predator missile drones has been widely reported, another class of ground-based robots is being deployed to engage with the enemy on the ground. Think of these devices as being just like R2D2 or C3PO of Star Wars fame–with one major difference. Rather than running at the site of danger, these robots are designed to engage a dangerous enemy head on. Capable of firing hundreds of rounds of automatic gunfire per minute, they represent the latest in military technology and their use will surely grow on the battle field as warfare evolves.
So what then is the connection between deadly armed military robots and next generation gang members? Perhaps little. Military technology is often re-purposed for law enforcement. Kevlar bullet resistant vests, automatic weapons, night vision goggles all started in the military and their use was quickly adapted by law enforcement for crime fighting purposes. Of course any decent criminal can get his/her hands on the same exact technology. One noted example was the North Hollywood (Los Angeles) police shoot-out in 1997 in which two sole bank-robbers, armed with military-grade Kevlar vests and armor-piercing automatic weapons, kept hundreds of LAPD officers at bay for several hours. All in all 12 police officers were shot during the incident.
In many countries, police officials are clearly out-gunned and out-resourced by criminal gangs. In Colombia, for example, narcotics traffickers have access to the full gauntlet of military technology to support their global narco trade.
Police officials have long used robots for very specific purposes, almost exclusively in the realm of bomb disposal. Recently, however, law enforcement are arming a new generation of robots with video cameras and weapons and putting them into service in situations which are too dangerous for human police officers themselves. Of course the use of any technology by police may come with its own set of risks.
What safeguards have been implemented to ensure armed robots do not accidently shoot or injure those they are intended to protect? Since these devices are radio controlled, how are their communications secured? Could a hacker control a police robot just as terrorists recently gained access to a U.S. military drone feed in Iraq? Could criminals access police robots and turn them against police officials?
It will not be long before criminals begin to gain access to robotic technology. Whether the first robot to commits a bank robbery, a homicide or sells drugs on the street corner is anybody’s guess. That said, the common place use of robotics by society at large may not just bring robots that vacuum, but robots that commit crime as well
