Killer robots being developed will make man ‘defenceless’

LONDON — Killer robots which are being developed by the United States military will leave humans “utterly defenceless”, an academic has warned.

Two programmes commissioned by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seek to create drones which can track and kill targets even when out of contact with their handlers. Writing in the journal Nature, Mr Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said the research could breach the Geneva Conventions and leave humanity in the hands of amoral machines.

“Autonomous weapons systems select and engage targets without human intervention; they become lethal when those targets include humans,” he said. “Existing artificial intelligence and robotics components can provide physical platforms, perception, motor control, navigation, mapping, tactical decision-making and long-term planning. They just need to be combined. In my view, the overriding concern should be the probable end-point of this technological trajectory,” he added.

“Despite the limits imposed by physics, one can expect platforms deployed in the millions, the agility and lethality of which will leave humans utterly defenceless. This is not a desirable future,” he warned.

The robots, called LAWS — lethal autonomous weapons systems — are likely to be armed quadcopters of mini tanks that can decide without human intervention who should live or die.

DARPA is working on two projects which could lead to killer bots. One is Fast Lightweight Autonomy, that is designing a tiny rotorcraft to manoeuvre unaided at high speeds in urban areas and inside buildings.

The other, Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment, aims to develop teams of autonomous aerial vehicles carrying out “all steps of a strike mission — find, fix, track, target, engage, assess” in situations in which enemy signal-jamming makes communication with a human commander impossible.