Soldiers bond with bots on battlefield

They may not be as cuddly as RI-MAN or as human-like as EveR-1, but Reuters is reporting that soldiers in Iraq have nonetheless formed strong bonds with their battlefield bots, giving them names and grieving when they meet an unfortunate end. When one bomb defusing PackBot from Roomba-maker iRobot named "Scooby Doo" was blown up after 35 successful missions, the bot's operator asked of iRobot, "Please fix Scooby Doo, because he saved my life."Of course, humans forming meaningful emotional attachments to their robot companions and servants is by no means unusual; studies have shown robo-pets to be as therapeutic as the real thing, and bots like Paro the seal have been helping patients in nursing facilities for years now (and are even crossing over to starring in movies). Still, if there's one kind of robot we'd want to stay away from as the robot-revolution looms near, it's that kind designed for military use. Ruh roh, Raggy.

[jarg @ May 25th 2006 9:25PM]

It’s hard to understand what goes through a soldier’s mind while in combat, it’s not the same as playing a game from the comfort of your warm home. I can understand how a soldier may have a bond with a robot, I had a bond with my weapon. Then again it may be one of those things that one may have to go through in order to understand. I’m glad we have this technology available on our side, it helps save lives. Have any of you had a bond with a controller or any other artifact? I’m sure not everyone agrees, just my opinion.

[tekdemon @ May 25th 2006 9:29PM]

Well, people form pretty tight bonds with their cars, and cars aren't usually all that intelligent even. Actually if you've had a really bad crash where your
car saved your life you might actually have similar feelings.

[Stan @ May 25th 2006 10:41PM]

We loved our robot in Iraq. We named him Johnny 5. He served us well and never did get blown up.

[Pascal @ May 25th 2006 11:05PM]

1 - I love my Jim and Tina, I couldn't pwn as well with out them, even though my Tina tends to spastically go in different directions. Tina is my mouse, and Jim is my keyboard.

[tiuk @ May 26th 2006 12:20AM]

I was going to say, I'm not really suprised. Pilots get attached to their planes, infantry with their guns, etc. Only natural to develope an attachment to something that you depend on I guess.

[Murc @ May 26th 2006 12:26AM]

To #3: I AM ALIVE! lol

[nivid @ May 26th 2006 1:14AM]

its not unusual, lot of us feel emotional bonding with our cars and gadgets

[Coolty @ May 26th 2006 3:26AM]

I thought the title said Solder bonds to robots on the field, i was like, WTF M8?

[Oddmanout @ May 26th 2006 4:06AM]

No big surprise here. I had a beat up old car back in college (10 years out of style and timing out of sync) that I absolutely put through hell. Stop and go traffic, clutch abuse, poorly handled maintenence, frequent long trips, being left in hotbeds of vandalism such as the school parking lot and all else. But with only, I think, two exceptions all I had to do was turn the key and off I went. She took me everwhere I needed and wanted to go, and yes, twice she save my life (by being up to the task of narrowly avoiding a couple of complete idiots I was 'privileged' enough to encounter on the road...one notable occasion involving time spent on ONLY two wheels). I had to sell her eventually, but I bid her a fond farewell...and nearly cried when I learned the teenage son of the lady who bought her destroyed her in TWO separate crashes.

I'm gettin' all misty eyed even now. And that was just Jeanette, my daily drive. I'll straight bawl if I have to recount all the good times Ritsuko (my modded weekend car) and I had, and the pain of sending her to the crusher...If Jeanette saved my life, surley it can be said that Ritsuko save my sanity (cranky beast that she was...).

I think it's probably a holdover from back in the days when we (humans) used to use animals more. Animals can indeed express and reciprocate love and loyalty, and with a little imagination and anthropomorphization even Un-intelligent machines (like a '57 chevy or an old Toyota truck that just...won't...die...) can seem to have a personality all their own.

In other news, I'm glad these bots are actually working at protecting human lives, even if it's at the cost of there own (?).

[Guillermo @ May 26th 2006 5:12AM]

I got some frases of "someone" some people got a little atached to, for a while:

"Quit it, quit it or I am gonna pee"
"So, are you a boy or a girl?"
"Leave me alone. I am mad"
"Feed me, NOW"
"I used to be a prince..."

Hint: Aquarium

Do you know who that was?

[Dhomas @ May 26th 2006 9:06AM]

#10: That's Seaman! What a great experience that was. Ah, the good times I had with my Dreamcast...

[Brian from Texas @ May 26th 2006 9:22AM]

There's some great video of these things in action on YouTube and Video Google.

[Paul Hainsworth @ May 26th 2006 11:19AM]

That Scooby-Doo reference at the end made my day!

[ed @ May 26th 2006 12:39PM]

If the robot didn't exist, then the soldier would be out there defusing bombs with his bare hands. That 35th mission that blew up the bot would have otherwise blown up the soldier, killing him.

Is it really an emotional bond if the only reason you like the bot is that it prevents you from getting killed?

[nik @ May 27th 2006 10:49AM]

I'm sure iRobot would be glad to fix it, for twice it's original selling price. I've dealt with those guys and they are money hungry bafoons.