Robots+In+Warfare

Since the dawn of the 21st century, robots have played a role in the military. In the last two years, their precsense has increased drasticly. The most common robotic soldiers (for this section they will be referred to as Solbots) are simple remote controlled vehicles sporting a mounted gun. The purpose of these solbots is simply to drive around and shoot things. They are much more durable than living soldiers and are much better at hiding due to their small size. However, because they are controlled by a human and powered by a battery, they have limited movement range and can't reload on their own. Many of these tiny solbots function more as an extra set of eyes which can record information and transmit it back to the soldiers. Next are the self thinking solbots. These guys are still powered by a battery but can think on their own (to an extant) thanks to a computer installed within them. A great number of these act as guards to bases and artiliary equipment. They can swivel around and "look" at their surroundings with a motion sensor. When an object or person moves too close, the solbot first analyzes the target to check if it is friendly or hostile. If the target is friendly, the solbot leaves it alone, but hostile targets are shot down with a mounted gun (most commonly a machinegun) or the siolbot sends out a warning. The major drawback to these solbots is that they are stationary and unable to move on their own. This is why some are attached to tanks and other vehicles for on the go shootouts. Amongst the more dangerous solbots are actually weapons in themselves. These are the self guided missiles. The technology within them alows them to lock onto targets with pinpoint accuracy. The major advantage of these destructive solbots is that they can cause maximum damge to the target and almost no damage to the surroundings. This cuts back on unwanted destruction and deaths. A human must program the missile's destination before it launches, but the best part is what happens next. Suppose a missle is launched at an enemy base. It has already taken off and is on its way to destroy its target. Suddenly, the inhabitants of the base start running towards a tank as friendly infantry storm the base. The missiles programmer can change the missiles destination to the tank and the missile will change course in mid flight! With the solbots powerful computer mind, it can turn on its own and hit another target. The enemies are down and the soldiers are safe thanks to this self guided missile. The only obvious drawback to these guys is that they explode once they hit. The next solbot is a true force to be reckoned with. Nothing is safe from this titan. Its main purpose is to be an anti-aircraft machinegun but it is more than capable of ripping apart anything else. It is called Metal Storm (named after the company that manufacured it). It is a 36 barreled machinegun that fires about 1.62 MILLION rounds per minute. The key behind this is that the gun has no moving parts except for the bullet itself. To do this, the gun uses a small electrical charge to start firing. Unlike other multi barrel machine guns, Metal Storm only needs a miniscule charge to fire (you can easily power this gun with a triple A duracel battery). Also, because nothing moves, there are no jams, which makes this gun a 99% chance of firing off perfectly. The only thing that could prevent this was if the battery was malfunctional or flat. And just in case ripping anything to shreds was not enough, Metal Storm can also fire small RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) at the same rate of fire. However, nothing is perfect and metal Storm does have a few drawbacks. It cannot move unless mounted on a tank or vehicle. Also, the gun has a lengthy reload time and must be done by human hands. The last thing is that after a minute it usually runs outof ammo. Otherwise, this is a true battlefield terror. Although solbots play an important role in military fields, they are still a work in progress. Human soldiers are still a vital factor in our military actions today and most likely will always be. But let us not forget that the future is coming fast, and that the future will someday be the now.

This video shows the devastating effects of Metal Storm media type="custom" key="7426851"