We all know that war casualties are typically kept behind tightly closed doors, but one company keeps the mangled pieces of its first casualty on display. But this kind of casualties will be open to the masses, This is no ordinary soldier, though — it is Packbot from the iRobot Corporation.

The mangled Packbot on display at iRobot is just one such example of a fortunate casualty. Nevertheless, as the technology progresses, more robots are being sent into battle first. Robotics advancements do, however, raise new ethical questions, such as where to place the blame if a robot kills someone. There are unmanned aerial vehicles and ground robots for explosives detection.

 You want to be able to use your eyes in one place and use your hand to control the robot without tying up all of your attention." Robots are already finding a place among deployed troops. "You don't want the robot to make the wrong decision. You want to have a human hit the button," says Smart. You don't want to give autonomy to a weapons delivery system.

 "It's a chain of command thing. While this may seem like a caveat in plans to add robots to the military, it is actually very important to keep humans involved in the robotic operations. Rather than carting around a heavy laptop and being forced to focus on a joystick and a computer screen. Using something as simple and as common as this video game controller also has added benefits in a military setting. Rather than carting around a heavy laptop and being forced to focus on a joystick and screen, soldiers in battle can stay alert and engaged in their surroundings while performing operations with the robot.

 Using something as simple and as common as this video game controller also has added benefits in a military setting. All of the Army's robotic force is teleoperated, meaning there is someone operating the robot from a remote location, perhaps often with a joystick and screen, soldiers in battle can stay alert and engaged in their surroundings while performing operations with the robot. You would more accurately call them autonomous systems rather than robots," says Smart assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Of course, they aren't envisioning robotic soldiers from movies like "Star Wars" and "I, Robot." "When the military says 'robot' they mean everything from self-driving trucks up to what you would conventionally think of as a robot. Few and Smart report that the military goal is to have approximately 30% of the Army comprised of robotic forces by approximately 2020.

 Louis's Doug Few and Bill Smart are on the cutting edge of this new wave of technology. Washington University in St. They have left the movie screen and entered the battlefield.  Robots in the military are no longer the stuff of science fiction.

"When I stood there and looked at that Packbot, I realized that if that robot hadn't been there, it would have been some kid," reflects Few.

Adapted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis.