Science and technology gateway ict polytechnic, saapade in partial fulfilment of the award of national diploma

2.2 Advances of Robotics

            Military. Drones make up a large percent of robots used in the military. However, there is research happening currently in order to create different kinds of robots for military use.

            Drones. Drones themselves are controversial. They save American lives but dehumanize the targets in the eyes of the drone operators. Drone strikes can also take the lives of innocent people as an accident when trying to kill enemies of the drone operators. Dowd (2013) discusses the current status of drones in war and their drawbacks. He brings attention to the human aspects of soldiers that are useful in war that are taken away when drones are used. Dowd also suggests that drones may make endless war a reality. The many downsides reported and explained in the article bring good arguments to the robotics controversy and make this a high-quality source. Drones are not the only robots involved in the military however.

            Other. Boston Dynamics is a robotics development company owned by Google. Their website has descriptions for nine of their inventions; however, the company probably has some confidential projects not shared with the public as the military uses Boston Dynamics to create some of its robots. Boston Dynamics (2012) posted a video on YouTube showing off their Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The LS3 is a robot that walks on four legs across almost any terrain and can carry a large amount of weight. The robot was designed to carry supplies for soldiers on the ground. It features a follow the leader application where it will follow a certain soldier without having to be controlled. It also can get back up should it be knocked over. The video is a good source for those supporting robotics’ expansion. It shows an innovation that will aide our military however it does not provide any information besides what you see the robot do.

            Boston Dynamics (2016) also has created a robot called the SandFlea. Designed for surveillance, the SandFlea can jump 30 feet in the air to get on top of short buildings and over compound walls. The robot is outfitted with a camera. Just like the video, Boston Dynamics only informs the audience of what the robot can do. While both these sources can be used to supplement an argument about robotics, they do not provide enough information to be the center piece and are merely supporting details.

            Artificial intelligence. Military robots are not the only robots being developed in today’s world. Robots that learn are also being created. Abrams (2008) reports on an experiment done with learning robots. The robots were put in an environment with a food source that charged their batteries and a poison source that drained their batteries. The robots communicated via a blue light that each robot was equipped with. Eventually, robots ended up shining the blue light in order to get the other robots to stumble upon the poison source. This source provides a scary idea that artificial intelligent robots can have bad intents and could be harmful to other robots and potentially humans. This report is a very good source to use when developing an argument against the expansion and so called improvement of robotics. The author seemed very informed and trustworthy making this a premium source.