The BBC is broadcasting a programme on Radio 4 this evening at 8pm about the issues around deploying robots in battlefield situations.

The ethics of this are interesting. One US device can refuel by scavenging for organic material, such as, potentially, human corpses. At a more general level, now do robots distinguish between non-combatants and the enemy? How could you put a robot on trial for a war crime? And could a robot be programmed with a warrior ethos?

Qinetiq here in the UK and Darpa  in the US are two of the players on the supply side of armed robots. Sheffield University’s Professor Noel Sharkey, co-founder of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, is a sceptical voice.

Are armed robots in a fine inventive tradition that includes plastic surgery for RAF pilots, Radar, and the tank? Or are is the Anglo-American alliance over-hooked on finding technical solutions to geopolitical problems?

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