U.S., Japan go separate ways in robots

Here's an excerpt from an article I wrote for The Japan Times based on my interview with PW Singer, author of a provocative new book about U.S. military robots, Wired For War.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) like the MQ-1 Predator, developed by California-based General Atomics, circle the skies of Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan gathering intelligence and taking out targets with Hellfire missiles. Tireless and devoid of emotion, UAVs have proven remarkably effective.... So comprehensive is the automation of the military that, under the $230 billion Future Combat Systems program, brigades will have more unmanned vehicles than manned vehicles by 2015.

The United States is creating a grand robotic army.

"Military robots are an even more revolutionary technology than the atomic bomb," says Singer. "The robotics revolution in war has a critical difference — it affects the 'who' of war, not only the warriors' experience, but the very identity of the warriors themselves."