Bomb-sniffing Robots for military use
The growing technology has caused the increase in the use of robots in military. Fido robot, a product by iRobot Corporation, is capable of "sniffing" or detecting bombs. U.S. makes use of Fido robot in Iraq to minimize the US troops casualties in Iraq which is mainly caused by bombs. In fact, more than 70 % of U.S. casualties are due to bombs. Currently, there are approximately 5000 robots in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are used to search for bombs inside caves, buildings, mines, roads, and cars.
Besides the bomb-sniffing sensors, video cameras which are able to zoom and swivel are installed in Fido robot where it sends the image captured to the operator. By using this information, the operator then controls and commands the robot. Fido robot is also equipped with 7-foot manipulator arms which are useful to scan quite a long range of certain location like undercarriage of vehicles. At the end of the manipulator arms, the grippers are designed similar to humanoid hand so that the robot can disable or destroy bombs.
By having these robots in war places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S casualties due to bombs can be reduced. The robots can be used to check ambiguous situations like abandoned cars or suspicious trash piles, so that there is no need to put soldiers' lives on the line. However, the sniffing-sensors are still susceptible to false positives which are usually caused by explosive residues, smoke and other contaminants. Nevertheless, reports by CNN show that since the robots arrived, no one has been hurt or killed when disarming the bombs.
Personally I believe that Fido robot is very useful in a sense that it minimizes the casualties caused by bombs. However, this actually gives us the idea that it is possible that future wars can utilize robots as "killing machine". In fact, robots were already used to shoot and kill during recent Iraq's war until now. The name of the robot is Swords robot. They are controlled by the operator up to a mile away. By having cameras, laser sighting, thermal and night-vision sensors, they are much faster than any humans, and shoot with accuracy almost 100%. This definitely breaks the first robotic law which is "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm:. Therefore, stricter international rules and regulations are needed so that the laws of robotic can be fully enforced.
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