Soldiers & Airmen bonding with their robots?

[trekgeezer]

A pretty interesting article about the impact robots are having on the battlefield and on their operators.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501009_pf.html

[Andrew]

I like the bit about the general stopping the minefield clearing robot test, because he thought it inhuman.  There is something funny about the idea of a robot, slowly dragging itself forward and losing a limb to each new mine.  Finally, the thing would only have its head - which it could then beat against the ground to detonate one final mine.

There have been a few good short stories with the theme of people feeling for their robots over the years.  Wish I could remember titles, but most of the time short story titles do not stick with me unless the story really made an impression.

[Dennis]

If you like robots with personalities and their human masters in combat, then you should read Bolo, Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade by Keith Laumer. The stories are a lot of fun to read, and I was surprised to find that Bolos are listed on wikipedia, they are a kind of AI tank with a real attitude.