With futuristic warfare in mind, India is working to develop robotic soldiers as part of efforts to boost unmanned fighting capabilities, joining a select group of countries in this endeavour.

The robots will be developed with very high level of intelligence, enabling them to differentiate between a threat and a friend, DRDO chief Avinash Chander says.

The “robotic soldier” can then be deployed in difficult warfare zones, like the Line of Control (LoC), a step that would help avert the loss of human lives.

The DRDO chief listed the project for development of robotic soldiers as one of his "priority thrust areas" and said that "unmanned warfare in land and air is the future of warfare”.

In the initial phase of the project, the robot soldiers would be guided by human soldiers to identify an enemy or a combatant, but “slowly, in due course of time, the robotic soldier would be at the front end the human soldier would be assisting him”.

According to Mr Chander, the “robotic soldier” will have multiple technologies in terms of communication with team members and the ability to recognize an enemy.

There are five to six countries actively working on similar projects. While not yet developed fully, the technology is in fairly advanced stages./.

CPV