The British Army has recruited Terminator-style robots to help train soldiers in battleground scenarios.
The machines, created with the same-size head and torso as an average male, are able to speak and react to soldiers as they are fitted with AI software Chat GPT.
If the soldier becomes angry, the robot, called SimStriker, can become hostile and fire BB pellets from its abdomen. In contrast, a calmer soldier will help control the situation.
In one battleground scenario, soldiers must face SimStriker in a village where locals need food, electricity and medical supplies, The Telegraph reports.
The robot will react differently depending on whether the soldier decides to help the locals.
The British Army has recruited Terminator-style robots to help train soldiers in battleground scenarios
The machines, created with the same-size head and torso as an average male, are able to speak and react to soldiers as they are fitted with AI software Chat GPT
It comes amid a move to use better technology and AI to prepare for complex future warfare. Pictured: Soldiers in Salisbury demonstrate the EXO Insight glasses which are an eye tracking virtual behaviour monitoring system
Army trainers can also manually alter the robot’s mood from a control room if they want to make the scenario more challenging for the soldier.
It is an unprecedented breakthrough in technology for the army, who can now train its soldiers against a ‘thinking’ enemy. Soldiers are used to training with static wooden targets.
The SlimStriker project, which started in 2020 and is in use at 16 Air Assault Brigade in Colchester, has seen robots fitted with sensors capable of recording the precision and fire rate of soldiers.
It also has a camera fitted in its forehead to allow it to detect motion and light. It then sends a signal for the robot to engage if a soldier walks in the room.
When resting, it can burp to simulate a guard who isn’t focused. And when active, it will say things such as ‘Who’s there?’ and ‘Stop’ from a speaker in its collarbone.
The robot was created by 4GD, a company launched by two former royal marines which trains soldiers using virtual reality and special effects.
The robot is set to be developed even further to virtually simulate organs on its torso to make combat injuries look more realistic.
The company has shared footage online of soldiers entering a room, where they are confronted with the robot.
James Crowley, 4GD business development director, told The Telegraph: ‘Although it gives the impression of a terminator, unlike the movie we aren’t trying to subordinate soldiers to a robot. Rather, we want to use a robot to enhance the soldier.
Soldiers are seen preparing to enter a room where an AI robot is lying on the other side
‘We want to use it to bring the training environment as close to the operating environment as possible. That’s why it shouts, talks and fires back. It is a leap forward in how the military can train for urban environments.’
This is the latest AI move the army has made, having already used Capita to speed up the hiring of new soldiers using AI.
AI software helps process prospective recruits’ medical records provided alongside their application. Capita claims it can cut the time needed to process medical records by almost a third.
It comes after the Ministry of Defence said last year that fewer troops will be needed on any future front lines because of the rise of AI.
In its updated Defence Command Paper in July 2023, it said the conflict would ‘change the way we think about the ‘size’ of our Armed Forces’.
In July, MailOnline revealed that British soldiers will soon be aided by a ‘game-changing’ AI app that will sift through the huge volume of battlefield data and tell commanders how to defeat the enemy in record time.
The state-of-the-art tech is currently in development, with military chiefs set to get their first taste of the kit during experimental trials later this year.
By Daily Mail Online, September 8, 2024
