A World Moratorium On 'Killer Robots'

Lethal military robots are currently deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ground-based robots like QinetiQ's MAARS robot (shown here), are armed with weapons to shoot insurgents, appendages to disarm bombs, and surveillance equipment to search buildings. A Georgia Tech computer science professor is developing a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire. QinetiQ

U.N. Investigator Seeks World Moratorium On 'Killer Robots' -- Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator called on Thursday for all states to declare a moratorium to prevent so-called "killer robots" being deployed on the battlefield.

Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on executions, said that unmanned robotic weapons systems with varying degrees of autonomy and deadliness were being tested or used by the United States, Britain and Israel without debate on moraI and legal issues.

"Moratoria are needed to prevent steps from being taken that may be difficult to reverse later," Heyns said in a 22-page report on "lethal autonomous robotics", due to be discussed at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 29.

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My Comment: The genie is already out of the box .... a world moratorium on 'killer robots' is not going to happen.