Robots to outnumber soldiers on the battlefield by 2023: Robotics expert

KILLER robots will soon outnumber human soldiers by 10-to-one. But by when? A US army expert says just wait until 2023.

Terminators

KILLER robots will soon outnumber human soldiers by 10-to-one. But by when? A US army expert says just wait until 2023.

During a recent weapons test of armed robots in Georgia, weapons systems developer Scott Hartley declared: "ten years from now, there will probably be one soldier for every 10 robots. Each soldier could have one or five robots flanking him, looking for enemies, scanning for land mines."

The demonstration at Fort Bennington required robots to accurately shoot a heavy M240 machine gun at ranges of up to 800m.

Other weapons fired by the semi-intelligent machines included a grenade launcher and even a Javelin fire-and-forget anti-tank missile.

Hartley, of 5D robotics, assured reporters that the machines were not just killers. "Robots can save lives," he said.

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Meanwhile, moves are afoot to counter the increase in intensity that robotic warfare entails.

New human body armour is being developed with the aim of greatly enhancing protection and mobility.

The inspiration?

Desktop 3D printers and fish scales.

The unusual "dragon fish", to be precise. The slender, spikey fish is regarded as having one of the sturdiest and most flexible forms of animal armour.

"We want to understand how the scales interact with each other to provide mobility, but then also how the scales, at a global level, provide structure, rigidity and flexibility at the same time,"an MIT researcher told LiveScience.

Called biomimic armour because it mimics nature, scientists hope to use 3D printing to copy more accurately the minute variations in the scales that allow them to be so strong and mobile.

scales

It is these minute differences in each scale that may enable armour to be tailored to the human shape and vulnerable areas such as elbows and underarms.

The armour is not only intended for use by the military. Ceramic versions could be used by firefighters who enter dangerous burning structures, the researchers say.