Beware the march of the robot soldiers

Armed drones are just the beginning. We need a new Geneva convention to ensure robo-wars will be fought ethically

Shortly before stepping down as US defence secretary this week, Chuck Hagel announced a massive investment in new weapons technology. Military robots and similar uninhabited weapons featured prominently on Mr Hagel’s shopping list. Future armed conflicts may well be fought by robots over greater distances, with greater speed than humans, and with even more devastating effects.

A couple of days before Hagel’s announcement, a group of experts meeting at the UN in Geneva debated the possibility of a ban on “killer robots”. As the US and other technologically advanced nations invest heavily in updating their arsenals, doubts abound over our ability to regulate 21st-century warfare.

The use of armed drones against terrorist targets in Pakistan and the Middle East has been controversial but, technologically speaking,