Since the early days of science fiction, the debate between machine-run and human-led societies has been a heated one. Television shows like Junkyard Wars, Asimov?s I, Robot, and the movie Dune all have a common theme ? they get the general public thinking about the robotic future.

It takes little imagination to visualize how robots could automate many tasks that humans currently perform. And the reality of these types of functions may be closer than you think.

Project Alpha, a United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), has brought together numerous services within the US military to provide a ?flexible, formidable, fighting joint force?, with a focus on military strategy. One of their current projects called, ?Unmanned Effects: Taking Humans Out of the Loop? talks about having autonomous, networked robots performing routine tasks in the battlefield as the norm within 20 years. These robots would be able to work in harsh conditions in the air, on the ground, underwater, or in chemically, biologically or radioactively contaminated areas. Essentially, the plan is to have these robots as the tactical front face of the US military.

Each branch of the military has a plan for incorporating robots into their future military plans. However, there wasn?t a centralized vision at the Department of Defense level that would coordinate all of the branches in a cohesive way. Project Alpha?s mission is to do just that.

In theory, these military robots sound like an excellent idea. They would be more lethal, more capable, more mobile, cheaper and faster than human beings. Also, they wouldn?t be taking on a human form, like in the movies Terminator, or I, Robot. Instead, they would be serving a utilitarian purpose, which may have a robot mimicking an insect, an airplane, or having no physical form at all (such as intelligent software).

The politics behind using military robots may be a bit more difficult to overcome. Having a machine perform what was once a human task can pose several problems on both a human resources and logistic level. Oddly enough, this is already being done with cruise missiles, close-in-weapons and other ?smart? weapons. Higher-level functions such as sailing, piloting or decision making may take a bit more work to adopt as something robots can perform on their own, however. Resistance is still strong to these types of robotic replacements, with current decisions as to their feasibility in the military made on a case-by-case basis.

No matter what happens, the US military has to keep on researching different tactical options to keep up with other countries that are pursuing the same idea. Someday in the not-so-distant future, our military may have to defend themselves against a lethal robotic force, and as these threats increase, so will the research dollars and implementation.

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