June 6, 2007:
In Iraq, the terrorists have come to
realize that the small robots American troops are using, are sometimes more
dangerous than the Americans themselves. There are several thousand of these small
(under 100 pounds, and look like a miniature tank) droids in use, and they have
become a primary target for the terrorists. The most common use of these robots
is to check out objects that might be roadside bombs. Terrorists will detonate
their roadside bomb if they see a robot going to check it out, and will fire on
the droids as well. Users have come to rely on the droids for all sorts of
things, and have adapted to the terrorist attacks on the droids, by treating
the robots like "one of the team." Thus troops will provide covering fire for
droids, as necessary, and will not send the robots out on suicide missions
unless it's really important. They will also recover damaged droids, make
battlefield repairs if they can (some guys have developed reputations as "droid
medics"). There is even a droid hospital in Iraq (Joint Robotic Repair and
Fielding Activity), that repairs about 400 broken or "wounded" droids a week.
About that often, the staff there will have to deal with one or more teary eyed
troops, carrying the blasted remains of their droid, and wanting to know if
their little guy can be rebuilt. Many of the droids are given names, which are
painted on the robot chassis.
One of the proposed upgrades for combat droids is
voice recognition (so troops can give it verbal commands) and a voice
synthesizer, so that the droid can, well, talk. This will be used, with foreign
language software, to enable the droid to talk to locals, and, in English to
its users. This will, no doubt, make the emotional bond with the troops even
stronger.