Taser, IRobot Team Up to Arm Robots

This Feb. 2005 photo released by iRobot Corp., shows the iRobot PackBot. the maker of floor-cleaning robots said Thursday, June 28, 2007, that it is teaming up with stun-gun manufacturer Taser International Inc., to arm track-wheeled robots for use by the police and military. (AP Photo/John Skibbee, iRobot Corp.) (John Skibbee - AP)

For iRobot, its Taser-equipped system will be the first robot capable of using force to disable a person, rather than a bomb. The 17-year-old company is best known for its mobile robots for the consumer market, including the disc-shaped, carpet cleaning Roomba.

But home robots account for only 60 percent of the company's revenue. The rest comes from government and industrial customers, including the military and police.

Versions of iRobot's PackBot have disarmed roadside bombs and searched caves and buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some scout dangerous areas before soldiers or emergency responders go in.

With the Taser venture, iRobot "is testing a new market, and they've found a cheap way to do it," said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with The Benchmark Co. "The PackBot works. You'll need software to make it work with the Taser, but my guess is they will be able to achieve it."

Pike at GlobalSecurity.org envisions police SWAT teams and prison guards using Taser-equipped robots to deal with hostage situations and unruly inmates. He also expects they could supplement _ or even replace _ human guards patrolling property.

"I could see rent-a-cop companies wanting to buy it, I can see corrections departments wanting to buy it, because it might be seen as a cost-effective alternative to having a human guard patrolling a perimeter," Pike said.

Pike says Taser-equipped, remote-controlled robots are still a few steps away from becoming killing machines. If that happens, the development would run counter to a robots-should-not-harm-humans principle that classic science fiction author Isaac Asimov outlined in his 1950 anthology, "I, Robot" _ the namesake of iRobot the company.

"For now, as soon as you let go of the joystick, the robot just sits there," Pike said. "So questions of moral agency don't arise _ that is to say, whose finger is on the trigger. But a little further down the road, when these ground vehicles do achieve greater autonomy, the may be no human finger on the trigger."