Hannah Froy 4/17/12 EDC Section 14-4

Robot Soldiers
An Ethical Analysis Background They dont get hungry. Theyre not afraid. They dont forget their orders. They dont care if the guy next to them has just been shot. Will they do a better job than humans? Yes. Gordon Johnson of the Joint Forces Command at the Pentagon shared this opinion on the increasing prominence of robot soldiers in the American Military back in 2005. Since then, the technological developments of robots have gotten even more sophisticated. Robot soldiers are on a path to becoming the new standard combatant in the American Military. This development raises a lot of possible ethical concerns that must be addressed before any issues arise. Current Designs There are a few different kinds of military robots that are being used as of right now. Unmanned ground vehicles are autonomous vehicles which can be used on all types of terrains and is equipped with weapons such as machine guns or grenade launchers.

Figure 1: Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Another type of military robot is the Goalkeeper which is used to defend ships against incoming missiles by detecting radar of incoming fire, adjusting its trajectory, and firing with no need for human input.

Figure 2: Goalkeeper

The implementation of the Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System (SWORDS) marked the first time that robots carried guns into battle. SWORDS is a weaponized version of TALON which is a military robot that can travel through many different terrains and is capable of climbing stairs.

Figure 3: SWORDS

Its controlled through a two-way radio. Although the weapons were available when the units were in battle, the army did not give the go-ahead to use them. These are just a few examples of the types of robots that are being used by the American Military.

Ethical Concerns At the moment, most of the robots that are being used by the American Military are nonlethal. However, this field is well-funded and expanding quickly. There are many systems in development that pose serious ethical questions. With developments such as the SWORDS, robots with the power to kill are clearly coming quickly. While the SWORDS unit is still controlled by a human, many of the other devices can be controlled completely autonomously. If the autonomous nature of these devices is mixed with the combatant nature of the SWORDS unit, a fully autonomous soldier will be created. This becomes an issue when considering the qualities that make a human into a good soldier. A good soldier must be capable of recognizing surrender gestures and telling an innocent bystander from an enemy. Would a robot be capable of these behaviors? These are life and death issues. Can we really trust a being of artificial intelligence to make these important decisions? If we assume that created a robot capable of making ethical decision is possible, a whole new possible problem arises. Is it ethical to create machine that is capable of complex thought and then send it into battle to be destroyed? When robot capabilities get closer to human capabilities, does that mean that these robots should get basic rights just like humans? Forcing a human into battle would be considered unethical. If a robot is capable of human-like qualities, they should receive the same rights that humans receive. The opposing argument is that it would be unethical to not use these robot soldiers that we are capable of creating. We should take every opportunity we have to remove humans from these lifethreatening situations. Putting robots in the place of human soldiers could drastically reduce the number of lives lost to war. Another argument in favor of robot soldiers is that they arent prone to basic human errors like human soldiers would be. They may actually be capable of making better decisions than humans because they dont face the problems that humans face. One example of this is that a robot soldier would not be affected by watching a fellow soldier die. This could lead to

them making better decisions than their human counterparts. Another reason to keep moving forward with the robot soldiers is that it could decrease the amount of money that we spend due to war. According to a Pentagon study, the median lifetime cost of a soldier is about $4 million due to things like retirement benefits. While robots are expensive to make, they wouldnt be as costly in the end because they dont deteriorate like humans and they dont need things like retirement benefits. Recommendations The issue of robot soldiers is a very difficult issue to solve. While there are a lot of serious ethical concerns that come along with the implementation of robot soldiers, there still a lot of benefits. In the end, I believe that these benefits outweigh the issues. Human life is more precious than robot life and anything that gives us the opportunity to save human life should be implemented. However, I would caution all the engineers working in this field to be careful. There is no room for error when it comes to making decision in life and death situations. At the moment, no robots that are being used have the power to make life and death decisions but that seems to be where we are headed. When that time comes, engineers of robots are going to have to make sure that they are designing these robots properly so that they can be trusted in important situations.

References Asaro, Peter M. "What Should We Want From a Robot Ethic?" Cybersophe.com. International Review of Information Ethics, Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. Tamburrini, Guglielmo. "Robot Ethics: A View from the Philosophy of Science." 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. Weiner, Tim. "A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield." The New York Times, 16 Feb. 2005. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.