Ukrainian officials are receiving an increasing amount of applications from robotics vendors who want their systems tested for utility in combat, a sign that unmanned ground capabilities are growing in importance amid the relative stalemate along the front line with Russia.
Officials at Brave1, a government defense-technology hub tasked with getting new capabilities field-ready, announced that more than 50 ground robotic systems and more 140 unmanned ground vehicles have been submitted for evaluation.
“Hundreds of them will be procured through United24 to strengthen the Ukrainian army on the battlefield in a few months – UGVs will become the next game changer in this war, [like] drones already have,” a March 12 Brave1 statement circulated on the organization’s social media channels said. United24 is Ukrainian government-run platform for collecting donations for the embattled country.
In the last year, an increasing number of these types of platforms have emerged on the battlefield, being used and tested for a widening array of missions. Ukrainian social media channels recently published footage reportedly showing a UGV capable of laying six anti-tank mines at a time.
In pictures posted online by Brave1, a variety of small-scale tracked and wheeled ground robots are seen on the move, armed with guns, evacuating injured dummies and equipped with what appears to be mine-detection equipment.
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
Would you support your country's military using ground robots in battle, and why or why not?
@9KWNXH71yr1Y
They are setting our country up for failure.
@9KWNTYN1yr1Y
I am not quite sure, and would have to look into the topic more to find a viewpoint on this.
@9KWNDLVConstitution1yr1Y
I think having robots fight our battles would be a great idea, without having human emotion or insticts to tell the robot to turn around or run or surender it would lead to a better battle. and less human lives loss
I would not support the military but it is not my choice and I hope they would do what is best for America.
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
Do you think the use of ground robots in combat makes war more or less ethical?
@9KWRT941yr1Y
War is inherently unethical. You could argue for either side, really.
@9KWSJD71yr1Y
More ethical. The less human lives lost fighting a rich man’s war, the better.
@9KWRY8GIndependent1yr1Y
no because war is not ethical no matter what
@9KWRTDW1yr1Y
Well, depends on severity and the lengths taken.
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
If robots are doing the fighting, what emotions does that provoke when considering the value of human life versus robot 'life'?
@9KWPDJM1yr1Y
I think that everyone wants robots now to take over the human acts
@9KWTJ94Republican1yr1Y
I think that at some point, us humans will lose all will to fight and be scared of the concept of war, but I am fine with the usage and help of robots in terms of drones, planes, tanks, etc.
@9KWTRCQRepublican1yr1Y
People are going to end up empathizing for the robots and it will tear the world apart more than it currently is.
Robots have no morality, and that takes away from military training. It is unhealthy and provokes the usage of robots in our every day lives.
@UncommonLocustGreen1yr1Y
This is a key piece of the emerging dystopian future where human error and false assumptions are written in code and executed at lightning speed without any human governance. The idea that entire populations could be held hostage to machines controlled by a few is the logical end point of this technology.
Be afraid.
There is no point in creating killing machines to kill other machines. These tools are going to be used to control civilians. These tools, combined with the rise of authoritarian governments, should give people a reason to be concerned and demand a resolution regarding the use of autonomous or drone warfare against civilians. Ideally the resolution should be passed before they are used, unlike the resolutions against chemical and nuclear warfare, which were only passed due to widespread horror and condemnation.
The next step is when independent AI weapons have to decide whether to take out the enemy's independent AI weapons. Eventually there may be no humans on battlefields. There would be a lot of destruction, but no loss of human life. But if countries are just destroying each other's robots, why not use virtual robots instead of real ones. Will war become a giant video game but with real results?
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