U.S. Army to Deploy Combat Robots in Iraq

The L.A. Times is reporting that the Army will deploy unmanned robotic ground vehicles into combat in Iraq later this year.

The robots, known as 'Tactical Amphibious Ground Support' and built by Northrop Grumman, will be the first autonomous ground vehicles used in a combat zone. The Army intends to use them for surveillance and border security missions, and the machines can navigate entirely on their own (although a remote operator can take control in the event of an emergency). Robots like the bomb-dismantling PackBot by iRobot have been serving in Iraq for quite some time, but this will mark the first use of completely autonomous vehicles in ground combat.