Robotic ground-based weapons : systems of the future battlefield

By contrast to weapons development which has occurred progressively over thousands of years over man’s evolutionary history, the pace with which information technology and electronics has advanced has been truly staggering. This state of perpetual evolution within both of these fields, and its union has led us for the first time in our history, to an age which has become known as the ‘age of the machines’ making both cyberwarfare and robotic warfare, or ‘lethality via remote-control’, completely possible. No longer the ‘stuff’ of science fiction novels, these new robotic technologies, ranging from robotic aircraft such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), robotic ground platforms (RGPs), naval unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vessels (UUVs), are already here, and some of these unmanned weapons systems (UWS) have already been deployed for both surveillance and offensive purposes in military operations.