Military Robots

Only last year, the US Military announced plans to launch robots into Iraq and recently, BigDog, the latest development in robo-military technology was unveiled. Does this signify the end to war as we know it? Perhaps a new generation of robot soldiers will not be pictured coming home in body-bags – but boxed up ready for the next battlefield.

Robotic reconnaissance, surveillance, and bomb-disposal missions are already common, but can soldiers ever be replaced by robo-soldiers? Will the dehumanisation of war led to ‘unethical’ actions – such as increased civilian casualties? Just how far is warfare driving robotics? This event explains how scientific research is set to change the landscape of war forever.

Dr Chris Langley, Scientists for Global Responsibility, will outline the extent of power the military in the UK and beyond hold over the development of science and technology.

Professor Alan Winfield will be discussing the ethics of using robots as soldiers. Is a war fought only using robots still a war? Should robots always have a human operator?

This event is one of a series on robots. All events take place at the Dana Centre – the Science Museum’s bar and café for adults to discuss contemporary science, technology, the environment and medicine

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