When it comes to military robots, many people will naturally think of invulnerable mechanical warriors, but also the scenes of robots battling humans in sci-fi movies such as “Enemies of the Machine” and “The Terminator”. The appearance of the robot, in addition to give a person with shock and surprise, how much there is a cold sense of terror.
What combat tasks will robots perform instead of humans? How will robots affect future wars? Will robots one day be the enemy of humans? Around these questions, we invite experts from the National Defense University to interpret them for you.
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Why are countries keen to develop military robots
Military robots, often referred to as unmanned systems, are used for high-risk military operations such as reconnaissance, mine clearance, combat, and maritime search and rescue. Moon rover, unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned vehicle and other equipment, all belong to the category of military robots. Countries around the world are investing huge sums in the development of intelligent robots, and the cost of building a robot army in the future is staggering. So why is the world racing to develop military robots?
Military robots are capable of dangerous tasks that humans find difficult to complete. As a platform for unmanned systems, military robots can overcome human physiological limits, on land, sea, air and space and the bottom of the sea almost all the military mission, both can bomb, blasting and other high-risk mission, as well as extreme heat, cold, chemical pollution and other harsh environments instead of human tasks, the use of military robots will sharply reduce the effectives battlefield casualties. In modern war, the casualty of effective force has become an important factor to measure the success or failure of war. Robots will take the place of soldiers on the battlefield, which will greatly reduce casualties. The use of military robots can effectively reduce the pressure on the country to maintain its armed forces. Military robots don’t have human psychological needs. They don’t have to do mental work, they don’t have to worry about clothing and food, and they don’t even have to pay for battlefield deaths. Although a huge amount of money is invested in the development and production phase, once it is successfully developed and established, it will cost only 10 percent of the existing military each year thereafter. Therefore, it is an ideal choice to use “robot soldiers” to fight instead of human beings.
Development status of military robots in various countries
The use of robots in combat to reduce casualties is nothing new. As early as the 1930s, the Soviet Red Army experimented with remote-controlled tanks. During World War II, the German army built thousands of remote-controlled combat vehicles for mine-clearing and demolition, which were essentially robotic equipment. Since the 1980s, for the dual pursuit of victory and “zero casualties”, western military powers led by the United States have been actively developing a variety of new intelligent robots to replace or assist human beings to perform operations, reconnaissance and other tasks, and there have been ground, air, underwater and space military robots. After decades of development, military robot has become a modern intelligent weapon system with multi-disciplines, multi-fields and organic integration of various technologies.
In 2002, the US Department of Defense approved Gordon Johnson to lead the research on the “Effects of Unmanned Warfare: Avoiding the Vicious Circle of war” project, thus bringing the research and development of military robots and their practical application into a fast track. By 2007, the U.S. military had more than 5,000 robots deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In March 2013, the United States released a new version of the Robot Technology Roadmap: “From the Internet to Robots” explained the development roadmap of robots including military robots, and decided to invest a huge amount of military research funds in the development of military robots, so that the proportion of unmanned combat equipment in the U.S. army will increase to 30 percent of the total weapons, and one third of the future ground combat operations will be carried out by military robots.
In addition to the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and other countries are also stepping up the development of a new generation of intelligent robots. In 2013, the Russian Ministry of Defense established the Robot Technology Research and Experiment Center, which is responsible for leading the research and development of Russian military robots, and established a military robot research and development laboratory in the Arsenal to develop a variety of new military robots for the Russian army. After developing robots such as “Eagle Claw”, “Swordsman” and “Magic Eyeball”, the UK recently converted the “Lightning” robot using armored vehicles. Known as the “kingdom of robots” Japan, its robot development is remarkable, Hitachi, SONY and other well-known companies are engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of robots. Although military robots cannot be developed directly, civilian robots can be quickly transformed into military robots with a little modification.
What is the future of military robots
According to statistics, the armed forces of more than 60 countries around the world have been equipped with more than 150 kinds of military robots. By 2040, half of the U.S. military could be robots. The future development of military robots will show the following characteristics:
Military robots will become independent armies. A traditional military robot usually requires a team to operate and support it. With the development of modern information technology, there will be a number of military robots in the future formation, collective implementation of action, and a soldier to control. According to the US military, robots in the US military will outnumber soldiers within 10 years, with one robot for every 10 soldiers.
Military robots will develop to miniaturization, networking and scale. With the advancement of modern nanotechnology, the world’s military powers are pushing forward the development of micro-robots for hiding or performing tasks in small Spaces. At the same time, military robots will also form large-scale combat units in the future. For example, the U.S. Army is considering reducing the size of army brigades from 4,000 to 3,000 soldiers, and replacing those soldiers with robots.
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The range of military robots will be further expanded. Military robots can not only perform conventional military tasks, but also carry missiles, machine guns, rocket launchers and other offensive weapons to participate in combat. In the future battlefield, when humans meet robots, the battle between human brain and robot intelligence, who will win the battle, this will be an unknown. Of course, the robot is artificial after all, its various functions are endowed by human beings, since human beings can make it, but also have the ability to control it. There is reason to believe that under the premise of human rational use of robots, robots can better serve human beings and become good partners of human beings.