Armed robots sidelined in Iraqi fight.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Ground Robots

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The first three armed ground robots deployed onto a battlefield are stuck behind sandbags and are not patrolling Iraqi streets as its inventors envisioned, said a senior executive with its manufacturer, Foster-Miller Inc.

Last summer, three special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action systems (SWORDS) were shipped to Iraq after three years of development at the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.

The robots carry M249 light machine guns, which are remotely controlled by a soldier through a terminal.

Senior Army leadership, however, was not comfortable with sending them out to do combat missions due to safety reasons, and they are now placed in fixed positions, said Robert Quinn, vice president of Talon operations at Foster-Miller.

"If you have a mobile weapons platform that can't be mobile, and it becomes nothing more than a fixed position, then why not just put it on a tripod," he told National Defense.

It seems to be a "chicken or the egg" situation for the Army, he said. The tactics, techniques and procedures for using armed ground robots have not been addressed.

But until there is an adequate number of SWORDS to train with, these issues can't be worked out, he said.

Kevin Fahey, program executive officer for the Army's ground combat systems, said technical concerns have halted the use of SWORDS. The turret moved on its own without a command being sent to it. There were no instances of the gun firing independently, nevertheless, "everybody lost confidence in it," he told the RoboBusiness conference in Pittsburgh.

Because it was developed under an "urgent needs" request, the development was accelerated without the benefit of thorough engineering, he said.

Making sure the system works properly is crucial for the future of armed ground robots, he added. "If something goes wrong it may prevent us from fielding an armed robot for about 10 to 20 years because once you've done something that's really bad, it's almost impossible ... to overcome that," Fahey said.

The Army authorized the purchase of BO additional robots under an urgent equipment request, but the office of assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology has not sought funding to fill the order.

Proponents of the system have touted SWORDS as potentially life saving...