NCJ Number
244670
Date Published
April 2013
Length
52 pages
Annotation
This monograph identifies and discusses the challenges of developing legal, reliable, and ethical forms of autonomous weapons (robotic weapons that operate largely without direct human control) used in military and law enforcement operations.
Abstract
An autonomous weapon may be mobile or stationary. It is distinguished from manned weapons by the use of pre-loaded heuristics that perform its C4ISTAR (Command, Communications, Control, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance), as well as target interdiction functions. The greatest concerns in the deployment of such weapons are hardware malfunctions, computation errors, inadequacies in pre-loaded heuristics, jamming by a third party, and hacking or any form of subversive control. In addressing these concerns, this monograph proposes a theoretical solution via an architectural framework. The proposed framework is intended to eliminate the practice of procurement without empirically supported deliberation about an automated weapon's design and performance under diverse tactical challenges. The author advises that weapons systems must be built with a wide range of operating environments and contingencies taken into account. This requires ample research prior to proceeding to the design and development stages. 5 figures, 30 references, and appended exploratory study that examines what would be a generic architectural framework for designing, developing, and implementing autonomous war-fighting agents