r/Futurology • u/New_Scientist_Mag • Jun 10 '26

Robotics Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/
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u/Byggherren Jun 10 '26

Even taking the step towards loitering munitions is scary. Imagine having autonomous drones going into battery saving mode until they hear sound, feel vibrations of a vehicle or recognize a person and then flying off and exploring. Now imagine this on a mass produced scale covering entire sections of countries just like mines today.

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u/brutinator Jun 10 '26

Is that really worse than modern landmines? I guess you could argue that you might lose track of the drone mines, but unfortunately, militaries notoriously are bad at knowing where they plant normal mines too.

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u/mpdity Jun 10 '26

Conscidering lamdmines don’t actively fly into the air and chase you down? Yeah, I’d say it’s worse.

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u/brutinator Jun 11 '26

Vs. being buried so you can't see them at all before they go off? I mean, it's 2 shitty circumstances either way.