A recent news report that armed robots had been pulled out of Iraq is mistaken, according to the company that makes the robot and the Army program manager.
We linked last week to a Popular Mechanics article reporting that the armed SWORDS robots, made by Foster-Miller, has been pulled out of Iraq after several incidents when the robot's gun started swinging around without being given a command.
Here is text from the original Popular Mechanics article:
One problem: SWORDS wasn't yanked. "SWORD is still deployed," Kevin Fahey, the program manger quoted in the original article, tells DANGER ROOM in an e-mail. "We continue to learn from it and will continue to expand the use of armed robots."
"The whole thing is an urban legend," says Foster Miller spokesperson Cynthia Black, of the reports about SWORDS moving its gun without a command.
There were three cases of uncommanded movements, but all three were prior to the 2006 safety certification, she says. "One case involved a loose wire. So, now there is now redundant wiring on every circuit. One involved a solder, a connection that broke. everything now is double-soldered." The third case was a test were the robot was put on a 45 degree hill and left to run for two and a half hours. "When the motor started to overheat, the robot shut the motor off, that caused the robot to slide back down the incline," she says. "Those are the three uncommanded movements."
Of course, another thing working against this "Terminator robot out of control" story are indications that the armed robots have not really seen any action in Iraq (i.e. aren't really being used). And if they were to be used, it's worth repeating that these are not exactly fearsome Terminators.
"It can't shoot anyone [without orders]," Black says. "It's not an autonomous vehicle."
Update:
It looks we now have a bit more clarity on what is going on with SWORDS in Iraq. Stew Magnuson, a reporter for National Defense, was at the same conference as the Popular Mechanics reporter, and it sounds like the robots, while in no way pulled out of Iraq, have been prevented from the type of combat duty that was originally envisioned:
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