Robots are cool. There’s no denying this fact - but they ain’t always friendly.

Johnny Five in Short Circuit was probably one of my first experiences of seeing a robot (yes it’s a film, but it looked real to me). People tend to forget that before his cheeky niceness after the lighting bolt hit him, he was actually a killing machine with a rather tasty laser cannon

Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield has put killer robots back into the news by claiming that using more robotic technology in warfare could significantly endanger civilian life.

So I’ve looked around the internet to find some examples of robot technology which is already being used in the military, none of it is quite Johnny Five or Terminator T101, but they are impressive nevertheless.

1 TALON

Fitted with ‘Johnny Five’ style caterpillar tracks, this robot is a bit of a multi-tasker. Easily portable, this robot is capable of explosive disposal, reconnaissance, small arms combat, and can even sense threats like radiation and chemical attack.

It can also climb stairs! It costs around $60,000 and it has its very own website, but you probably need to be in the warmongering business to get one. Spend $200,000 and you can get one with a gun.

2 ACER

Looking a bit Wall:E to me, this robot is a multi-purpose unit created by Mesa Robotics and is pretty large - the size of small bulldozer.

According to HowStuffWorks it is a capable of a number of heavy-duty tasks, such as clearing out explosives with a mechanical arm, clearing and cutting obstacles with a cutter or blade, pulling vehicles, hauling cargo, and serving as a weapons platform.

3 PackBot

According to Wikipedia, more than 2000 of these robots are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Again on caterpillar treads, this little robot is small enough to be carried on a soldier.

Bulit by iRobot and Controlled by a Pentium processor, it has a GPS system,  an electronic compass and temperature sensors. It can also withstand a 6-foot drop, meaning that soldiers can throw them through windows and see where enemies are hiding.

4 Matilda

Another robot built by Mesa Robotics, this remote control device is also small and portable, fitting in the trunk of a car.

Like the other robots already mentioned, this is multi-purpose - capable of being a sensor or camera, disrupting bombs or explosives, and also manipulating things with its arm.

5 ARV(Armed Robotic Vehicle)

According to LockHeed Martin, this vehicle will in the near-future be able to be used for weapons and reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.

It is based on the MULE platform, an unmanned ground combat vehicle that is being developed.

6 Global Hawk

The first on the list that can fly, the RQ-4A/B Global hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial reconnaissance robot which can provide military commanders with real-time imagery of large geographic areas.

It has already been used in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the vehicle’s flight control, vehicle management software and navigation functions managed by twp integrated mission management computers.

7 Predator

The Predator C Avenger was created by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and in April made its first flights.

The unmanned aircraft has a weapons bay which can carry 500 pound bombs with laser guidance, which can be removed and a surveillance pod installed. It can carry 30o0 ibs worth of weapons and sensors.

8 BigDog

The first robot on the list with legs, this Boston Dynamics created robot a a rough-terrain robot that has is able to run, climb and carry loads. It has four legs articulated like an animal - like a big dog!

It has on-board computer controls which services the legs and handles a number of sensors. It is funded by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in the hope it can accompany soldiers in places where wheels won’t do.

A video of the robot is available here.

9 EATR

This is a bit of a freaky one, as Wired noted.  Basically researchers are trying to develop something called the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR)  that won’t need conventional refuelling because it can forage (or eat) organic matter.

This is pretty scary when you realise that when they say organic matter, this could easily mean human corpses - hence a corpse-eating robot on the battlefield?!

10 The ‘ethical’ robot

Not actually a robot in use, but very interesting and could create a new breed of robot - one which actually makes decisions about using force on the battleground, and what Noel Sharkey was very concerned about.

According to the New Scientist, a robotics engineer is developing software which would make robots behave ethically - obeying the rules of engagement.

It’s easy to think of a movie like Terminator Salvation as a complete fantasy. Surely it won’t be possible for robots to rise up and take over, enslaving humanity on the way?

However, P.W. Singer, author of new book Wired for War: The robotics revolution and conflict in the 21st century, came out with some interesting ideas and facts in an interview with Hplus magazine.

In terms of numbers, he said that a handful of drones before the Iraq invasion has now turned into 7,000. There were zero ummanned vehicles - now there are over 12,000. Unmanned planes and sea vehicles are also increasing.

There are now 43 countries working on military robotics. In an interview. Microsoft’s Bill Gates claimed that robotics will develop in the same way that computers 30 years ago.

That’s a pretty scary thought, considering what computers can do now.

Singer also named flying mobile phone towers, flying gas stations, insect-like bugs, and planes which don’t need piloting - they can carry out missions on their own as well as fly there and back.

But what about an actual Terminator reality? Singer recounts a story where a member of the military actually asks a scientist for something like the Terminator hunter killer drone, which kind of makes sense, even if its is a little scary.

If it works successfully for Skynet in the movie, why wouldn’t it in real-life? And if all that data we’re having to deal with is too much for humans -  computers and AI could look through the data much more quickly and efficiently right?

- Hopefully it won’t have any digital fingers on any nuclear buttons in that case.

Software developer Bob Mottram believes that it is unlikely that Terminator style robots will rise up in the near future, simply because technology is still quite a way from being sustained without the help of humans.

However long-term - the late 21st century perhaps - if automation continued and we got lazier and lazier, he says in principle it might be possible for machinery to take over. In the Pixar film Wall-E you saw something like that with the fat humans unable to do anything about robot control because they just didn’t know how to move anymore.

Robotics expert Daniel H. Wilson says the super-intelligent robot is unlikely, but that he did expect to see humanoid robots fighting within the next several decades. Terminator-style robots tele-operated by humans which can negotiate human environments.

Or even humanoid policeman? Patrolling the streets helping law enforcement in their jobs? It might not be in my lifetime - but it will be a reality sooner or later.

Oh the perks of being an IT journalist.

Look what I have sitting on my desk at the moment…

It’s very cute - Although he makes a lot of noise, which I was tempted to post up as a YouTube video, but I’m frightened somebody in the office might smack me.

It’s out tomorrow - Apart from the Dark Knight its the film I have been looking forward to this year.

And before you say it - it’s a trash compactor that turns into a robot. So obviously IT related right?

I don’t care either way - its too cute.