The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is working on a project to develop &lsquo;robotic soldiers&rsquo; that will have the ability to interact with other soldiers and take decisions. The prototype of such a robot will be completed in this decade. DRDO&rsquo;s laboratory Research Development Establishment will be the primary nodal agency for this project. This was revealed in theu00a03-day international conference on advances in robotics that began in the city yesterday. <img alt="DRDO, Robotic soldiers" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/jul/robots.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 751px;" /> Representational picture DRDO chief Avinash Chander (in pic), also the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, said, &ldquo;A robotic soldier involves integration of a large number of technologies. We have already achieved the capability of a robot, which is controlled manually and fires on order. Its range is one kilometre but we need to scale up its capability.&rdquo; &ldquo;Our next step is to make a robot that can take decisions after generating imagery. We are also trying to develop a robotic soldier that can complete group intelligence activities within a decade. We also need to develop miniaturised communication and actuation systems with automatic target recognition systems.&rdquo; Chander said. &ldquo;The US army is planning to have one third of their armed ground vehicles as unmanned by 2015. We also have placed a strong emphasis on robotic technologies in military operations. Integration with academia and industry is very important to make this happen,&rdquo; he added. When questioned about the delay in product development, Chander said, &ldquo;The DRDO has a budget of Rs 300 crore dedicated to research. Hence, funding is not an issue as far as robotics&rsquo; projects are concerned. Our products take time to deliver but they are contemporary for example the Aakash missile project. In fact our product development cycle times are coming down to a few years.&rdquo; Five qualities of u00a0&lsquo;Robotic Soldiers&rsquo; 1: Manually controlled 2: Generate imagery and then take decisions 3: Flexible multiple actuators 4: Group soldier interaction 5: Distinguish between threat and non-threat. &ndash; Avinash Chander, DRDO chiefu00a0

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The government agency has dedicated Rs 300 crore towards research to develop such a prototype

DRDO to create robotic soldiers within a decade

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DRDO to create robotic soldiers within a decade

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