By Camilla Peffer
The future is here and now with robots already replacing military personnel in war zones, says a leading US defence expert.
Dr Peter Singer, who headed the defence policy team for US President Barack Obama in last year’s campaign, talks about these new robot soldiers in Iraq in his new book Wired for War.
“We went into Iraq just a few years ago with a handful of these unmanned planes,” Singer told ABC Radio. “We now have over 7,000 in the US military inventory alone. The same thing on the ground. We went in with zero ground robotics. We now have over 12,000 and the growth curve is only continuing.”
The Defence White Paper released this week has also outlined Australia’s intent to follow America’s lead.
Singer says 43 other countries are also following suit, including Britain, Iran, China, Russia and Israel.
Originally built for observational purposes, the PackBot is being built by the vacuum company iRobot, named after the science fiction movie and book.
Dr Singer says robots will allow governments to spy, diffuse roadside bombs, and intervene in future terrorist attacks.
However, Dr Singer stresses the ethical issues involved in their creation, concerning privacy rights and shifting the blame for armed conflict onto machines.
“These are capabilities that you’re bringing into war and you know you can see the appeal of this, but also what does that mean to issues like rights? What does it mean to when and where you go to war if you can now go to war without sending humans into harm’s way?”
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