Using robots to kill: Ethics debated after Dallas

Dallas police used a robot to kill a shooting suspect after 5 police officers were shot dead. Some are calling this tactic a first. Dallas police officers comfort each other in honor of the officers who were killed in a massive shootout Thursday. NEW YORK--When Dallas police detonated a "bomb robot" Thursday night to take down a sniper suspect, it was believed to be the first time a robot was used by law enforcement to kill a human being in the U.S. Dallas police chief David Brown explained in a press conference that "other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger." The action raises ethical questions about the role of robots in warfare, or in this case, police work, especially given continuing breakthroughs in machine learning and artificial intelligence.