The Army recently published a Request For Information on Autonomous Decontamination Systems (ADS) to see what might be out there in the existing commercial market to help its Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) troops more easily clean up contaminated vehicles, infrastructure, and terrain. "ADS will reduce manpower and optimize resources required for decontamination operations while mitigating the risk of exposure of warfighters to Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents through robotic means," the Army said in its RFI.
In its first decade, iRobot began to assemble a small-droid A-team for the theater of combat. The Ariel defused mines; the PackBot handled bomb disposal. (Later they would be joined by the Warrior, which breached obstacles; the camera-encrusted SUGV, which handled recon; and the palm-size FirstLook, which could be thrown through a window to investigate hazardous materials.) These machines weren't weapons, but they facilitated weaponry's consequences.
Over the last eight years, Anduril has been consistent in our view of modern warfare: The physics of the battlefield have changed, permanently. Projecting power increasingly demands the ability to amass tons of effects over long distances,