"As Military Robots Increase, So Does the Complexity..." Topic

… of Their Relationship With Soldiers.

"For a glimpse at the future of human-robot interactions, it might be better to look at what's happening in the United States military than analyzing Her, in which Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with an OS voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Throughout every department of our armed forces, autonomous robots are playing a larger role in every aspect of warfare than ever before, and soldiers are developing some unorthodox relationships with their machines. Just ask Danielle.
Danielle was a TALON, a remotely operated robot used for reconnaissance in combat, as well as in tough-to-reach terrain like rocky canyons and caves. Connor, an Army sergeant, recalled that while deployed in Afghanistan, soldiers had to hole up inside their trucks each night, packing several humans as well as piles of equipment including robots into a small space. "Everything had to be locked up, so our TALON was in the center aisle of our truck," he recalls. "Our junior guy named it Danielle so he'd have a woman to cuddle with at night." Sadly, the romance was not to last: "Danielle got blown up," Connor says.
Just as World War II pilots gave their planes names like Memphis Belle, and decorated them with nose art, today's soldiers are naming their robots after movie stars, musicians and ex-girlfriends. Brady, another Army sergeant, called his TALON Elly. "I talked to her, when I was at the controls. I'd be coaxing her, 'C'mon honey,'" he says. "They're kind of part of the family." Ben, an Air Force staff sergeant, says that when one robot was detonated by an IED, his team "recovered the components, the carcass, if you will, and brought it back to base. The next day there was a sign out in front that said, 'Why did you kill me? Why?"…"
Full article here.
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Amicalement
Armand

I can imagine a Starship Troopers type scenario where veterans and their robots take over the government, probably for the better.

Reminds me of a show about a bomb disposal team in Afghanistan (might have been Iraq). Although they did not give the robots cute names they certainly did show some affinity for the machines.

Coelacanth1938 your spot on. Me I want a Talon Mk13 multiple skitter with 360o vision a multi load including a suppress fire chaingun, I'll sit in comcontrol while my Talon 'let's call her Darlene' takes on the Jihadis she does her job 5 nil to the away team. They take her out, I get another one 'let's call her Darlene II' see what I'm saying? Now let's do that with eye in the sky night vision and X the Talons by 15. Yay away team winning every time. And as for the human grunts? Cross train as field mechanics as its a lot safer for them to let the Talons go in first. And think about this your a baddy you hear a scuttle scraping noise like a big spider close by, slowly you and your fellow fellows see red laser picking out the sweet spot on your chests. Now what! Maybe Sci fi today bet its reality tomorrow.

I still wish I had a couple of T2 types with each of my squads …