The Pentagon wants to buy thousands of battlefield robots

Robotics manufacturers are scrambling for more than a half billion dollars in Pentagon contracts for battlefield robots that will defuse bombs and scout ahead for soldiers on the battlefield. That's according to a new Associated Press report about the U.S. military's efforts to purchase thousands of "backpack-sized" robots that troops can deploy to take bullets in dangerous situations -- and its fear that it could be outpaced by similar efforts by China and Russia. These battlefield robots aren't killer bots capable of using lethal force autonomously, a class of machine that is currently being debated worldwide. Rather, U.S. military leaders are interested in intermediary devices like Endeavor Robotics' treadmill-sporting Centaur bot, which can perform reconnaissance and disable explosives -- bots that soldiers can put in harm's way instead of themselves.