WFAA.com says that a Grand Prairie TX company Lockheed-Martin is creating a new military robot called
the "Mule". This war robot will go where humans dare not go. The
Mule come in various configurations from cargo, air assault, counter
mine, to rapid fire battle weapon. The Mule can go into hostile urban areas
and brave streams of bullets that humans could not endure. Mules could
be dropped in by helicopter or by cargo plane. Its advanced suspension
and nimble wheels allow it to climb over obstacles or go up stairs. It
can even kneel to shield troops. It can see and shoot! Be afraid!
This robot could change the way troops battle on the battlefield
forever.
I can think of a number of problems with these sorts of teleoperated
military vehicles. The obvious one is that if it's radio controlled the
radio signals could be jammed, either by broadcasting random signals on
the relevant frequencies or by recording radio activity on the robo-band
then just replaying it in an endless loop, causing the robot to
endlessly repeat some harmless action. Even if the radio signals were
encrypted the simple radio record and playback method would fool or
confuse the droid.
The other potentially much bigger problem is what happens if one of
these machines falls into the hands of terrorists and they drive it
through a major city? Even in the unlikely event that terrorists could
never acquire such a weapon couldn't someone just homebrew a similar
radio controlled buggy and strap a gun to it?