Combat Robot (or Military Robot) is an automatic device that replaces a person in combat situations to save human life or to work in conditions incompatible with human capabilities for military purposes: reconnaissance, combat, demining, etc.
Combat robots are not only automatic devices with an anthropomorphic action that partially or completely replace a person, but also operating in air and water environments that are not human habitats (remote-controlled aircraft unmanned aerial vehicles, underwater vehicles and surface ships). The device can be electromechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic or combined.
The first drawing of a humanoid robot was made by Leonardo da Vinci, and in 1495 he presented a detailed model of a mechanical knight capable of sitting, moving his arms and head, and lifting a visor. The project was developed based on research into the proportions of the human body.
From the beginning of the 18th century, the press began to report machines with "signs of intelligence", but in most cases it turned out to be a scam. Living people or trained animals were hiding inside the mechanisms.
In 1898 Nikola Tesla designed and demonstrated a miniature radio-controlled vessel.
At the end of the 19th century, the Russian engineer Chebyshev invented a mechanism - a stupokhod, which has a higher cross-country ability and which in the future "contributed" to robotics.
At the beginning of the 20th century, work was already underway in secret military laboratories to create various combat vehicles.
In 1910, inspired by the success of the Wright brothers, a young American military engineer from Ohio, Charles Kettering, proposed the use of aircraft without a man. According to his plan, a device controlled by a clock mechanism in a given place was to drop wings and fall like a bomb on the enemy. Having received funding from the US Army, he built and, with varying success, tested several devices called The Kattering Aerial Torpedo, Kettering Bug (or simply Bug), but they were never used in combat.
In 1921, the Czech writer Karel Čapek presented to the public a play called Rossumian Universal Robots, from which the word “robot” (from the Czech robota) originated.
In 1933, the first reusable unmanned aerial vehicle, the Queen Bee, was developed in Great Britain.
In 1931, Stalin approved a plan for the reorganization of the troops, which relied on tanks. In this regard, teletanks were built - controlled in battles by radio from a distance, without a crew. These were serial tanks T-26, TT (abr. From teletank), control tank (from which a group of "unmanned" tanks was controlled). In the early 1940s, 61 radio-controlled tanks were in service with the Red Army. These machines were used for the first time during the Soviet-Finnish war, where the demolition tank, also created on the basis of the T-26 tank, distinguished itself.
Very soon, these structures had an "Achilles heel": once, during an exercise, the machines suddenly stopped following the commands of the operators. After a thorough inspection of the equipment, no damage was found. A little later, it was discovered that a high-voltage current transmission line running near the exercise was interfering with the radio signal. Also, the radio signal was lost on rough terrain.
With the outbreak of World War II, developments to improve teletanks ceased.
During the Second World War, Goliath self-propelled mines were used. This weapon was not considered successful due to its high cost, low speed (9.5 km / h), low cross-country ability, wire vulnerability and thin armor (10 mm) that was unable to protect the self-propelled mine from any anti-tank weapon.
The Cold War brought a new round in the development of combat vehicles. High-precision intelligent robots have emerged that can analyze, see, hear, feel, distinguish certain chemicals, and perform chemical analyzes of water or soil.
In 1948, a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle, the AQM-34, was created in the United States. Its first flight took place in 1951, in the same year the "drone" was put into mass production.
In 1959, the La-17R unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was developed at the S. Lavochkin design bureau.
During the Vietnam War, the US Air Force actively used unmanned aerial vehicles "Firebee" and "Lightning Bug"
In March 1971, a commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR made a decision on the development of unmanned aircraft construction.
In 1979, at the Bauman Technical University, by order of the KGB, an apparatus for the disposal of explosives was made - an ultralight mobile robot MRK-01.
In 1996, a fundamentally new tank was tested, capable of fully operating in an autonomous mode.
In 2000, in Chechnya, the intelligence robot "Vasya" was successfully used to detect and neutralize radioactive substances.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, many countries have increased investment in the development of new technologies in robotics. According to the Pentagon for 2007-2013, the United States has allocated about $ 4 billion for the development of such devices until 2010.
In 2005, the Russian Navy tested the Gnome underwater reconnaissance robot in the Baltic Sea. It has an all-round view locator that allows it to see at a distance of more than 100 meters and independently disarm mines.
In 2006, a "robot watch" was created in South Korea to guard the borders with North Korea.
The American company Foster-Mille developed a combat robot that was equipped with a large-caliber machine gun. In the summer of 2007, three robots from this company were successfully tested in Iraq, after which the company received an order for 80 machines.
In June 2007, a number of American companies made a statement that they would soon create a combat unit of multi-functional combat robots. Their collective intelligence will operate according to the same laws as in insect communities (for example, ants). The main task of such combat vehicles is to ensure adequate actions in case of loss of its contact with the combat group.
