The ever increasing number of war casualties in Iraq is fast becoming increasingly unacceptable to many in the United States. However, Bush does not have much choice because no new nations are coming forward to deploy their troops in Iraq and existing partners are deserting the Americans.

Now, Bush has taken a fresh guard for his second innings and is looking for alternatives. There are reports that the US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq. Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring. They are expected to be operated by human operators who would be sitting at a safe distance remotely watching robots movements with cameras and deciding the time and target of fire.

However, this is not the first time the Americans are using robotic technology in the war, but the first time the robots would be coming in contact directly with the insurgents in face to face combat. It has been reported that the US forces were using robots prior to the Afghanistan conflict on missions like search and rescue and ordinance disposal. But, the problems in Afghanistan and Iraq have forced them to move faster towards developing land robots.

This robot warrior is expected to be fast, accurate and capable of tracking and attacking the enemy with little danger to the lives of US soldiers. The robot fighter has been christened as SWORDS, after the acronym for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems. This current technology is based on a proven robotic technology which has been marketed as TALON robots by the US Company Foster-Miller. A TALON robot is a battery powered, track-based mobile platform essentially designed for irregular and challenging terrain and are widely used by the military to disarm bombs. This robot can be reconfigured  by operators in the field using simple pin mounted components and plug-and-play subsystems. To date, over 80 different payloads have been developed or adapted and mounted on the TALON robot platform. The current robot fighter is one such modification.

For the last few years military technologists are concentrating on designing and developing machines capable of replacing human beings. Robotic Engineering is fast becoming part of the military industrial complex. Currently, robots are being used by the armed forces to carry out dangerous operations. For the last few years the Americans and other developed armies are using robots in various capacities like smart missiles, pilotless aircrafts, driverless vehicles, mine lying etc. On 5 November 2002 the US killed six alleged al Qaeda members in Yemen (traveling in a car) by using an unmanned CIA Predator drone armed with a Hellfire missile. Possibly, this incident marked the beginning of a new era in robotic warfare.

The first human configured robot named 'Greenman' was developed in  America in the year 1983. It was a joint venture by different companies. Individual parts like arms, torso, and head were developed by different agencies. This robot was  'visionary' with two 525-line video cameras each having a 35-degree field of view and video camera eyepiece monitors mounted in an aviator's helmet. This robot was put in use for driving specific type of military vehicles, but the system was not amphibious.

Robotics technology has been put to the maximum use in developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) used for surveillance and intelligence gathering and are referred to as flying robots. Till date the Americans were undertaking reconnaissance operations and other offensive operations with the help of robot systems. Now, they are graduating towards replacing human war-fighters by robot soldiers. For them every soldier killed in combat OCONUS (Outside the Continental United States) creates more difficulties domestically.

The American infantry is expected to remain embroiled in urban warfare and counterinsurgency operations in Iraq for many months to come and induction of 'artificial soldiers' could give their troops some respite. The U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade is expected to receive these 'soldiers' in Iraq. SWORDS can be equipped with an FN M249 Series LMG and 320 rounds of 5.56x45mm ammunition. It can also be outfitted with a Barrett anti-materiel rifle or a multi-shot rocket launcher.

These robots, whose cost per unit is approximately $230,000, are expected to be more accurate than the average soldier; their efficacy could only be judged when they are actually deployed in the war zone. Bush must be thinking about why put a human in harm's way, when he can afford to deploy a robot. It would be of interest to see how the Iraqi insurgents fight with these robots that they cannot kill but can surely incapacitate.