The department of defense wants you to design a pack of robots that would hunt humans. Or, as they put it, “search for and discover a non-cooperative human subject”. While the project brings to mind Terminators, there are also non-terrifying uses for these robots, including search and rescue missions. The robots ought to be about 100 kilograms or less, offer immediate feedback, and defer to a human operator in the event of a challenging decision. This project presents some interesting challenges for robot designers. They’ll need to consider several essential issues, like robot collaboration and decision-making abilities. We knew it was only a matter of time before the DoD turned the Grand challenge into death Race.

[via Warren Ellis]