Steel Soldiers

Steel Soldiers

Robots are taking jobs from people where pinpoint precision is required, where extreme or dangerous environments are unavoidable, and where money can be saved.  What robots can't replace is human judgement.  Some day machines may simulate human decision-making abilities, but not soon, and certainly not soon enough to keep Americans safe on the battlefield. 

We do see a lot about robots at war lately, but that is mostly hype.  America has NO fighting robots in the field.  Drones are only fancy missiles and bomb robots are hardly more robotic than a child's remote control toy.  What we need is something I've mentioned  before - Digital Remote Operation (DRO).

Standard radio remote control technology won't work at war.  Frequencies are limited and easily jammed or duplicated.  Operators must be dangerously close to the action to keep control. Even the best robots lack human mobility.  DRO and a well-designed robot will fix that, and here's how.

Step one: create a secure impromptu battlefield network (SIBN).  This means placing a large number of wireless network routers in the battlefield and have them organize themselves into a working internet.  They would either be hand-placed by special operations soldiers or soft-dropped from a UAV before the battle.  Nodes would route communications and commands around any local interference or jamming.  DARPA is funding related research right now, though it's mostly software and security being tested; battery-powered wireless network nodes are an existing product.   

Step two: link the SIBN to operators via the internet or direct satellite connection.  Many millions of people across the globe play internet games this same way.  This is more technology our military knows exists now and isn't using.  DRO operators would receive a high definition streaming video of what the robot sees and hears.  Operators would have complete control of movement and weapons.  The signal delay between the operators and robots would be about 1/50th of a second. 

Step three: roll in the robots.  And by robots I mean DRO combat robots.  Each robot would have it's own SIBN node, keeping it in constant link with the previously placed network.  GPS would supply the exact location of each node of the ISBN and each robot.  The robots would have torque, speed, and computing power enough to match or exceed human soldiers in many ways. 

Why bother with all this?  The Digital Remote Operated Combat Avatar (DROCA) could replace American soldiers in the most dangerous situations they face.  From manning a remote checkpoint to going first through the door, this robot soldier would save American lives.  Insurgents take out a patrol?  We'll make more, and the operators will go back into the fight all the wiser.  Child carrying a grenade?  Nobody has to make the decision whether to shoot a child or lose their life; let them blow up the DROCA. 

Let's bring American smarts and American production to the battlefield instead of American lives.  And who knows, our enemies may come to fear our steel soldiers enough to seek peace.