Future Tense

An Iraqi War Robot May Be Taking Part in the Battle for Mosul

On Tuesday, the Popular Mobilization Units, the umbrella group of the mostly Shiite Iraqi militias fighting against ISIS, tweeted a photo of a combat robot they say is taking part in the battle for Mosul:

Flying drones have obviously revolutionized 21st century combat, but a ground combat robot taking part in an urban battle would be something of a milestone. (Another one came earlier this year when Dallas police used a bomb robot to intentionally explode a device, killing a suspect in July’s police shooting.)

But before we declare this a milestone, we should keep in mind what we’re dealing with here. The robot in the picture looks similar to one reported on by the Baghdad Post and Defense One in August, which was reportedly built by two unnamed brothers and shown off at a weapons expo in Baghdad earlier this year. It’s known as Alrobot, which, in case you couldn’t guess, is Arabic for robot. Here’s a video of it in action:

According to Defense One, it “has four cameras, an automatic machine gun, and a launcher for Russian-made Katyusha rockets, and can be operated by laptop and radio link from a kilometer away, the story says.”

Popular Mechanics was skeptical, noting that “Alrobot may have a hard time on the battlefield” since its “armor appears thin and unlikely to survive the rigors of even small arms fire.” Also, its weapons don’t appear to have a remote targeting system, and its video link doesn’t seem sufficient, either. “At best, Alrobot would be a platform for providing inaccurate, suppressive fire to pin enemy forces down on the battlefield. At worst the robot’s operator could become disoriented and open fire on friendly forces,” wrote Kyle Mizokami.

So if the Popular Mobilization Units’ robot is the same one, those taking the fight to ISIS might be advised to keep a wide berth from their robot comrade. Robotic ground combat may soon have it’s day, but the battle for Mosul probably isn’t it.