The Predator and Reaper bots, while devastating pieces of weaponry, are still remotely controlled by humans. Enter the Taranis combat aircraft, which can fly autonmously to other continents, and could theoretically select and engage targets, all without human guidance… eventually. It’s maiden flight is scheduled for 2011.
“Militaries are spending large amounts of money to develop robots that can locate targets and ‘destroy them without human intervention,’ says Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, raising the prospect of a scenario similar to that portrayed in the Terminator series of movies, in which robots are self-aware enough to start killing humans.”
Full article at [theglobeandmail]