Michael Peck: National Interest: Coming to an Aircraft Carrier Near You: Robot Sailors
The thought of machines running one of the most dangerous weapons in the world is not necessarily reassuring. But that day may be coming.
These robots are still in the development phase. But given the expense of human sailors, and the exhausting nature of their work, it seems inevitable that robots will become a fixture on aircraft carrier flight decks.
There are few places more busy and stressful than the deck of an aircraft carrier.
That's because a carrier is an airport planted on top of a ship. A U.S. Nimitz-class carrier is longer than three football fields, but that's a lot less acreage than even a regional airport on land. Still, a carrier has to be to launch, recover and prep jet aircraft, and do so quickly and efficiently. That means swarms of sailors pushing carts laden with bombs and missiles around a crowded floating airfield.
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Update: Navy Engineers Programming Robots to Help Simplify Sailors’ Jobs (Armed Science)
WNU Editor: It is only a question of time before these "robots" are on the flight deck.
