Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (p.43).

Nunca antes na história os seres humanos conviveram com tantos robôs. Nesse contexto, a intensificação do processo de robotização militar está intimamente relacionada à emergência da Era Digital e à digitalização das forças armadas – entendida como a utilização acelerada de TIC para o desempenho de funções militares tradicionais. Apenas nos Estados Unidos, mais de trinta sistemas estão em desenvolvimento e/ou em operação neste momento. Estima-se que o país detenha mais de vinte mil robôs capazes de operar em terra, no mar e no ar. Este trabalho dedica-se ao estudo amplo do processo de robotização das forças armadas. Mais especificamente, o trabalho busca cumprir dois objetivos principais. O primeiro está relacionado à necessidade de compreender a relação entre guerra e tecnologia na Era Digital. O segundo objetivo da tese é verificar de que forma as forças armadas lidam com a incorporação desses sistemas na atualidade. Para tanto, o trabalho utiliza um modelo desenvolvido para auxiliar no planejamento e na análise de capacidades militares conhecido como “desenho de força”. A pesquisa foi baseada, mas não está restrita, ao estudo de caso dos Estados Unidos, a partir do qual busca-se oferecer ao leitor lições derivadas da experiência estadunidense. / Humans have never lived with so many robots. In this context, the intensification of military robotization is closely related to the emergence of the Digital Age and to the digitization of the armed forces – understood as the accelerated use of ICT to perform traditional military functions. In the United States, more than thirty systems are currently under development and/or operating. It is estimated that the country has more than twenty thousand robots capable of operating on land, at sea and in the air. This work is therefore dedicated to the broad study of military robotization. More specifically, it seeks to fulfill two main objectives. The first one is related to the need to understand the relationship between war and technology in the Digital Age. The second objective of the thesis is to verify how the military has been dealing with the incorporation of such systems. In order to do so, the dissertation uses a model developed to aid in the planning and analysis of military capabilities known as “force design”. It draws from, but is not limited to, studying the case of the United States, from which the dissertation intends to derive broader lessons applicable to other contexts.

Micro Autonomous Systems and Technologies (MAST) is an Army Research Laboratory (ARL) sponsored project based on a consortium of revolutionary academic and industrial research institutions working together to develop new technologies in the field of microelectronics, autonomy, micromechanics and integration. The overarching goal of the MAST consortium is to develop autonomous, multifunctional, and collaborative ensembles of microsystems to enhance small unit tactical situational awareness in urban and complex terrain. Unmanned systems are used to obtain intelligence at the macro level, but there is no real-time intelligence asset at the squad level. MAST seeks to provide that asset. Consequently, multiple integrated MAST heterogeneous platforms (e.g. crawlers, flyers, etc.) working together synergistically as an ensemble shall be capable of autonomously performing a wide spectrum of operational functions based on the latest developments in micro-mechanics, micro-electronics, and power technologies to achieve the desired operational objectives. The design of such vehicles is, by nature, highly constrained in terms of size, weight and power. Technologists are trying to understand the impacts of developing state-of-the-art technologies on the MAST systems while the operators are trying to define strategies and tactics on how to use these systems. These two different perspectives create an integration gap. The operators understand the capabilities needed on the field of deployment but not necessarily the technologies, while the technologists understand the physics of the technologies but not necessarily how they will be deployed, utilized, and operated during a mission. This not only results in a major requirements disconnect, representing the difference of perspectives between soldiers and the researchers, but also demonstrates the lack of quantified means to assess the technology gap in terms of mission requirements. This necessitates the quantification and resolution of the requirements disconnect and technology gap leading to re-definitions of the requirements based on mission scenarios. A research plan, built on a technical approach based on the simultaneous application of decomposition and re-composition or 'Top-down' and 'Bottom-up' approaches, was used for development of a structured and traceable methodology. The developed methodology is implemented through an integrated framework consisting of various decision-making tools, modeling and simulation, and experimental data farming and validation. The major obstacles in the development of the presented framework stemmed from the fact that all MAST technologies are revolutionary in nature, with no available historical data, sizing and synthesis codes or reliable physics-based models. The inherently multidisciplinary, multi-objective and uncertain nature of MAST technologies makes it very difficult to map mission level objectives to measurable engineering metrics. It involves the optimization of multiple disciplines such as Aero, CS/CE, ME, EE, Biology, etc., and of multiple objectives such as mission performance, tactics, vehicle attributes, etc. Furthermore, the concept space is enormous with hundreds of billions of alternatives, and largely includes future technologies with low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) resulting in high uncertainty. The presented framework is a cyber-physical design and analysis suite that combines Warfighter mission needs and expert technologist knowledge with a set of design and optimization tools, models, and experiments in order to provide a quantitative measure of the requirements disconnect and technology gap mentioned above. This quantification provides the basis for re-definitions of the requirements that are realistic in nature and ensure mission success. The research presents the development of this methodology and framework to address the core research objectives. The developed framework was then implemented on two mission scenarios that are of interest to the MAST consortium and Army Research Laboratory, namely, Joppa Urban Dwelling and Black Hawk Down Interior Building Reconnaissance. Results demonstrate the framework’s validity and serve as proof of concept for bridging the requirements disconnect between the Warfighter and the technologists. Billions of alternative MAST vehicles, composed of current and future technologies, were modeled and simulated, as part of a swarm, to evaluate their mission performance. In-depth analyses of the experiments, conducted as part of the research, presents quantitative technology gaps that needs to be addressed by technologist for successful mission completion. Quantitative values for vehicle specifications and systems' Measures of Performance were determined for acceptable level of performance for the given missions. The consolidated results were used for defining mission based requirements of MAST systems.

Nunca antes na história os seres humanos conviveram com tantos robôs. Nesse contexto, a intensificação do processo de robotização militar está intimamente relacionada à emergência da Era Digital e à digitalização das forças armadas – entendida como a utilização acelerada de TIC para o desempenho de funções militares tradicionais. Apenas nos Estados Unidos, mais de trinta sistemas estão em desenvolvimento e/ou em operação neste momento. Estima-se que o país detenha mais de vinte mil robôs capazes de operar em terra, no mar e no ar. Este trabalho dedica-se ao estudo amplo do processo de robotização das forças armadas. Mais especificamente, o trabalho busca cumprir dois objetivos principais. O primeiro está relacionado à necessidade de compreender a relação entre guerra e tecnologia na Era Digital. O segundo objetivo da tese é verificar de que forma as forças armadas lidam com a incorporação desses sistemas na atualidade. Para tanto, o trabalho utiliza um modelo desenvolvido para auxiliar no planejamento e na análise de capacidades militares conhecido como “desenho de força”. A pesquisa foi baseada, mas não está restrita, ao estudo de caso dos Estados Unidos, a partir do qual busca-se oferecer ao leitor lições derivadas da experiência estadunidense. / Humans have never lived with so many robots. In this context, the intensification of military robotization is closely related to the emergence of the Digital Age and to the digitization of the armed forces – understood as the accelerated use of ICT to perform traditional military functions. In the United States, more than thirty systems are currently under development and/or operating. It is estimated that the country has more than twenty thousand robots capable of operating on land, at sea and in the air. This work is therefore dedicated to the broad study of military robotization. More specifically, it seeks to fulfill two main objectives. The first one is related to the need to understand the relationship between war and technology in the Digital Age. The second objective of the thesis is to verify how the military has been dealing with the incorporation of such systems. In order to do so, the dissertation uses a model developed to aid in the planning and analysis of military capabilities known as “force design”. It draws from, but is not limited to, studying the case of the United States, from which the dissertation intends to derive broader lessons applicable to other contexts.

Nunca antes na história os seres humanos conviveram com tantos robôs. Nesse contexto, a intensificação do processo de robotização militar está intimamente relacionada à emergência da Era Digital e à digitalização das forças armadas – entendida como a utilização acelerada de TIC para o desempenho de funções militares tradicionais. Apenas nos Estados Unidos, mais de trinta sistemas estão em desenvolvimento e/ou em operação neste momento. Estima-se que o país detenha mais de vinte mil robôs capazes de operar em terra, no mar e no ar. Este trabalho dedica-se ao estudo amplo do processo de robotização das forças armadas. Mais especificamente, o trabalho busca cumprir dois objetivos principais. O primeiro está relacionado à necessidade de compreender a relação entre guerra e tecnologia na Era Digital. O segundo objetivo da tese é verificar de que forma as forças armadas lidam com a incorporação desses sistemas na atualidade. Para tanto, o trabalho utiliza um modelo desenvolvido para auxiliar no planejamento e na análise de capacidades militares conhecido como “desenho de força”. A pesquisa foi baseada, mas não está restrita, ao estudo de caso dos Estados Unidos, a partir do qual busca-se oferecer ao leitor lições derivadas da experiência estadunidense. / Humans have never lived with so many robots. In this context, the intensification of military robotization is closely related to the emergence of the Digital Age and to the digitization of the armed forces – understood as the accelerated use of ICT to perform traditional military functions. In the United States, more than thirty systems are currently under development and/or operating. It is estimated that the country has more than twenty thousand robots capable of operating on land, at sea and in the air. This work is therefore dedicated to the broad study of military robotization. More specifically, it seeks to fulfill two main objectives. The first one is related to the need to understand the relationship between war and technology in the Digital Age. The second objective of the thesis is to verify how the military has been dealing with the incorporation of such systems. In order to do so, the dissertation uses a model developed to aid in the planning and analysis of military capabilities known as “force design”. It draws from, but is not limited to, studying the case of the United States, from which the dissertation intends to derive broader lessons applicable to other contexts.

The overall aim of this thesis is to look at some philosophical issues surrounding autonomous systems in society and war. These issues can be divided into three main categories. The first, discussed in papers I and II, concerns ethical issues surrounding the use of autonomous systems – where the focus in this thesis is on military robots. The second issue, discussed in paper III, concerns how to make sure that advanced robots behave ethically adequate. The third issue, discussed in papers IV and V, has to do with agency and responsibility. Another issue, somewhat aside from the philosophical, has to do with coping with future technologies, and developing methods for dealing with potentially disruptive technologies. This is discussed in papers VI and VII. Paper I systemizes some ethical issues surrounding the use of UAVs in war, with the laws of war as a backdrop. It is suggested that the laws of war are too wide and might be interpreted differently depending on which normative moral theory is used. Paper II is about future, more advanced autonomous robots, and whether the use of such robots can undermine the justification for killing in war. The suggestion is that this justification is substantially undermined if robots are used to replace humans to a high extent. Papers I and II both suggest revisions or additions to the laws or war. Paper III provides a discussion on one normative moral theory – ethics of care – connected to care robots. The aim is twofold: first, to provide a plausible and ethically relevant interpretation of the key term care in ethics of care, and second, to discuss whether ethics of care may be a suitable theory to implement in care robots. Paper IV discusses robots connected to agency and responsibility, with a focus on consciousness. The paper has a functionalistic approach, and it is suggested that robots should be considered agents if they can behave as if they are, in a moral Turing test. Paper V is also about robots and agency, but with a focus on free will. The main question is whether robots can have free will in the same sense as we consider humans to have free will when holding them responsible for their actions in a court of law. It is argued that autonomy with respect to norms is crucial for the agency of robots. Paper VI investigates the assessment of socially disruptive technological change. The coevolution of society and potentially disruptive technolgies makes decision-guidance on such technologies difficult. Four basic principles are proposed for such decision guidance, involving interdisciplinary and participatory elements. Paper VII applies the results from paper VI – and a workshop – to autonomous systems, a potentially disruptive technology. A method for dealing with potentially disruptive technolgies is developed in the paper. / <p>QC 20130911</p>