So Israeli robotic soldiers have not gotten yet to the stage that I have shown in the picture above or rather the one depicted by James Cameroon in T3, but they could still get to that level one day. The first steps of making a military of robots seems to have started and Israel have already enlisted robots in to their military service. One can argue forever about the sense of employing such a strategy and the pros and cons of it, but for now we will stick to the technical and technological aspects and implications of this brand new Israeli program.
The Guardium, an unmanned ground vehicle commissioned by the Israeli military and shown to The Associated Press on Monday, is essentially a robotic soldier, among the first in the world to be operational. It can replace human soldiers in dangerous roles, cutting casualty rates. The four-wheeled Guardium is operated from a command room that can be far from the front line. It can be mounted with cameras, night-vision equipment and sensors, as well as more lethal tools like machine guns. They are nothing new as Unmanned Vehicles have been a part of the army since a long time.
The Guardium never mentally wanders or falls asleep, as soldiers have been known to do during mind-numbing guard or patrol missions. Devoid of senses, emotions, feelings and pain, it is almost something that John Rambo wanted to be and tries to be in the flick. What people call hell, it indeed calls home! The control panel includes two large screens and a joystick. If the operator wants to take control, he can do so from a steering wheel and gas and brake pedals that lends the console the look of a video arcade game.
A vehicle alone costs approximately $600,000. With the operating system, the price runs to several million dollars. Many would still argue that it still means saving human life which is priceless and it is hard to argue with that. But it is also hard to ignore the fact that future wars would be much like playing one on a gaming console!
