Commission: curb the use of military robots

Four researchers from different fields have set up a committee with the aim of limiting the use of robots for military purposes as much as possible: the military deployment of robots would be unethical.

The Commission, which calls itself the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, or ICRAC, includes noted robotics expert Noel Sharkey, who is affiliated with Sheffield University in the United Kingdom. The other members of the committee are physicist Jürgen Altmann from the Technical University of Dortmund, ethicist Robert Sparrow from the Australian Center for Human Bioethics and philosopher Peter Asaro from Rutgers University in America.

The foursome is committed to limiting robots in the military: autonomous weapon systems should be subject to similar restrictions as stipulated for the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons. The first item on the agenda that the ICRAC therefore recorded was a call for a ban on deploying military robots in space or equipping them with nuclear weapons. A group of regulators should monitor the development of autonomous robots, according to another proposal.

For the time being, autonomous military robots are still rare. However, the committee members fear that the human role will marginalize as the development of military robotics systems progresses. They also fear that the moral boundary for the use of force will blur when robots enter the battlefield.

The committee will present a report with positions to the European Parliament. In the summer of 2010, a meeting with researchers, politicians and military representatives, among others, should follow where the future of military robots will be discussed.