When war stops being human, robots bleed oil, not tears.
But the good news about using humanoid robots in war is that no one comes home in a coffin. Robots do save soldiers' lives; in fact, we know this because they have saved many Ukrainian lives in the war against Russia in Ukraine. Some of those robots carry explosives or remote-controlled automatic weapons. They have succeeded in keeping Ukrainian soldiers alive while under fire. Robots can enter minefields, sniper zones, drone-watched trenches & collapsed buildings. On the other hand, using robots in warfare raises the psychological barrier to conflict. Robots can unintentionally make war feel "cleaner," which is dangerous. Not to mention autonomous systems can make catastrophic mistakes. Even the best AI today misidentifies targets, & can get confused by smoke & camouflage. A robot can get jammed or spoofed.
I think that more & more this will be one side of warfare, with humans commanding robotic formations. We might even see robot vs. robot skirmishes. A U.S. tech firm announced plans for 100,000 humanoid robots for military & strategic operations. So far, robots have traversed difficult & bumpy, uneven terrain where even Russian soldiers had a hard time navigating. Robots are certain to change war, but they won't remove its tragedy. War stays terrible, even if fewer humans are on the front
