Giving missiles to flying robots is so passé. The new hotness, demonstrated by the HDT Protector above, is handing machine guns to ground robots. This past weekend, four companies tested machine-gun-firing ‘bots during an event at Fort Benning in Georgia.
The Protector, featured in the video above, carries gear for troops on foot and can be customized to clear paths through minefields or dig defensive positions. With a gun on top, it can do many of the things a soldier does in the field (apart from swear and be human). A remote pilot can control the Protector from almost 3,300 feet away. The gun mounted on top is an M-240 machine gun that can spray bullets up to 5,900 feet.
In conclusion: This is not the kind of robot you want to give autonomy.