The Pentagon is Building a Robot Army [VIDEO]

Less than a month after the U.S. Army ordered 1,100 micro-robots for $13.9 million, the Department of Defense placed a $1 million order for lightweight robots from iRobot Corp., it was announced Tuesday.

The order came from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), which operates under the umbrella of the DOD. The purpose of the organization is to detect and eliminate IED threats. It ordered 105 FirstLook robots for $1.5 million — iRobot’s first “significant order” of the small bots.

Throw ‘em, drop ‘em, kick ‘em — these robots can take a beating. The iRobot 110 FirstLook weighs five pounds. It can be dropped from 15 feet and climb over obstacles up to seven inches high. The robot also corrects itself should it flip over. It is equipped with four cameras to survey from all angles.

To help protect soldiers, the robots can survey rooftops, go through houses and peer around corners, plus provide intelligence and clear the path in numerous other dangerous scenarios.

As badass as these robots are, the order also amounts to a hefty sum of taxpayer dollars. At $12,636 per micro-robot, the U.S. Army got a better deal last month than the JIEDDO did more recently. The JIEDDO order breaks down to about $14,285 per FirstLook robot.

Mashable reached out to iRobot and the DOD to find out more about these machines, and we’ll let you know what we hear back.

Robots can save lives in more ways than one — from military operations to nanorobotics being developed with the hope of curing cancer. Some critics, however, say these advances could also lead to human extinction.

But for now, such technological advances can decrease human fatalities in combat. They can also break world records.

What do you think about the U.S. using robots in combat? Share your opinions below.

Image courtesy of iRobot Corp.

More About: military, Pentagon, Robot, robotics, U.S.

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