Robot G.I.s get closer to the battlefield

The US Army decided to deploy the first robotic soldiers in Iraq. More than 18 of the remote-controlled robotic snipers, with machine guns for noses, should go into action in a few days.

The robots or Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems (yeah it spells Swords) are three-foot-high and they only shoot when a human operator presses a button after identifying a target by the robot's cameras. The operator is up to half a mile a way and is more or less safer than the robot.

Apparently the robot is a conversion of the Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000 and defusing roadside bombs in Iraq. Each one costs $200,000, and is armed with either the M249, which fires 5.56-millimeter rounds at a rate of 750 per minute, or the M240, which can fire about 700 to 1,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute.

The Pentagon predicts that robots will be a major fighting force in the American military in less than a decade, hunting and killing enemies in combat. A 21st century army has to rely on efficient robots that can solve dangerous situations without endangering soldier's lives.

Military planners say robot soldiers will think, see and react increasingly like humans. In the beginning, they will be remote-controlled, looking and acting like lethal toy trucks. As the technology develops, they may take many shapes. And as their intelligence grows, so will their autonomy. The Pentagon intends for robots to haul munitions, gather intelligence, search buildings or blow them up.