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> bpalmer@BBN.COM (Brian Palmer) asks about battlefield robots...

The Department of Defense has been very interested in this for a long time and
has spent a great deal of money on it. In fact it is probably fair to say that
this idea has been the stated motivation for most federally-supported R&D in 
computer science (not just robotics) in the United States since about 1983,
including "pure" research at universities. 

The best review of all this is the 1987 book, COMPUTERS IN BATTLE (details
below).  The perspective of most of the authors is quite skeptical and
critical; whether or not you agree, this book is by far the most comprehensive
account available, and its very plentiful references will guide you to lots of
technical literature and a whole spectrum of views.  

The chapters most pertinent to your question about robotics are the ones by
Gary Chapman and the one by me.

Jon Jacky, University of Washington, Seattle    jon@gaffer.rad.washington.edu
--------------------
     
'Computers In Battle' edited by David Bellin and Gary Chapman.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987, $14.95.
xiv + 362 pages, including Bibliography, Resources, Index.
ISBN 0-15-121232-5
     
       Table of Contents
     
Computers in Battle:  A Human Overview
   Severo Ornstein
     
A History of Computers and Weapons Systems
   Paul N. Edwards
     
The New Generation of High-Technology Weapons
   Gary Chapman
     
Computer System Reliability and Nuclear War
   Alan Borning
     
Computer and the Strategic Defense Initiative
   Eric Roberts and Steve Berlin
     
The Strategic Computing Program
   Jonathan Jacky
     
Computers in Weapons:  The Limits of Confidence
   David Lorge Parnas
     
Artificial Intelligence as Military Technology
   Tom Athanasiou
     
High Technology and the Emerging Dual Economy
   Lenny Siegel and John Markoff
     
The Role of Military Funding in Academic Computer Science
   Clark Thomborson
     
Computers and War:  Philosophical Reflections on Ends and Means
   John Ladd