Yup, the ‘merican army is seriously considering replacing thousands of soldiers with robots in order to cope with sweeping troop cuts.

Some officers have said they are considering shrinking the size of their brigades by a quarter, and replacing them with drones as well as autonomous robots.

Does this spell the end of humanity? Does it foreshadow a Terminator-like apocalypse? Not for now, no. The ideas under discussion will mainly see manned lorries and transporters replaced by supply trains of robots vehicles.

General Robert Cone, head of the army’s training and doctrine command:

I’ve got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of manoeuvrability, in terms of the future of the force.

When you see the success, frankly, that the Navy has had in terms of lowering the numbers of people on ships, are there functions in the brigade that we could automate – robots or manned/unmanned teaming – and lower the number of people that are involved, given the fact that people are our major cost?

Thankfully, there are no immediate plans as yet to produce robots with lethal firepower.

[Source : Telegraph]