The U.S. military's small, but growing, arsenal of armed robots has a new addition. Bot-maker Foster-Miller has shipped the first of its new killer machines to the Defense Department's Combatting Terrorism Technology Support Office.
The 350-pound MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) machine can carry a 40mm grenade launcher or a M240B medium machine gun. Or, if the robot's operators want their killer 'bot to be a little less-lethal, the thing can be equipped with a laser dazzler, a loudspeaker, or pepper spray.
After years of safety testing and modifications, three of MAARS kill-bot predecessors were sent to Iraq in 2007. But after nearly nine months in the field, safety concerns (among other reasons) have kept those machines from firing a shot in combat.
So MAARS' makers keep emphasizing how safe their lethal machine is. Software controls allow the robot's driver to select fire and no-fire zones. A mechanical range fan keeps MAARS' gun pointed away from friendly positions. "MAARS was developed with safety as the number one goal... [and] will continue to be tested exhaustively under various conditions in the coming months to ensure full compliance with standards and a safety release for fielding," the company says in a statement, which goes on to reinforce that the robot is "human-operated."
ALSO:
- Military Recruits Thousands More Warbots for New Unmanned Surge
- The Strange Case of the Army's Robot Thief
- Robot + Super Gun = 'Crowd Control'
- Roomba-Maker Unveils Kill-Bot
- Iraqi Extremists Claim Killer 'Bot Takeover
- Popular Mechanics: "Simmer Down!"
- Armed Robots Still in Iraq, But Grounded (Updated)
- Killer Ground 'Bots Out of Iraq: How Come?
- First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq
- Top War Tech #5: Talon Robots
- More Robot Grunts Ready for Duty
- Israel's Killer 'Bot: Safe Enough for War?
- Inside the Baghdad Bomb Squad
- Charity Battles Imaginary Killing Machines
- Which Sci-Fi Weapons Should be Proactively Banned?
- 'Turing' Tests for Killer Robots
- 24 More Armed Robot Senties for Base Patrol
- Killer Drone Panic.... Zzzzzzz.....
- Newbies Build Killer Robots; Fortune Fawns
- Army's Robotic, Armed Combat Vehicle
- Inside the Robo-Cannon Rampage
- Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14
- Roomba-Maker unveils Kill-Bot
- New Armed Robot Groomed for War
- Armed Robots Pushed to Police
- Armed Robots Go Into Action
- Taser-Armed 'Bot Ready to Zap Pathetic Humans