Does a robot's risk outweigh its' reward?

The concept of a robot immediately provokes two avenues of thought. The first being the tall, sliding, silver computer, that talks like 'Microsoft Sam', similar to the one Screech had on 'Saved By The Bell'. The other is a more 'real' description. An organism which can proceed to have lifelike emotion, yet is manufactured and programmed by computer intelligence.

Not to be confused with Peter Crouch's embarassing dance to celebrate goals, the term robot is "a machine capable of carrying a series of complex actions automatically". However as the old cliche goes, "with great power, comes great responsibility".

The U.S army has decided to invest heavily on the idea of robots, whether it be something like this. The questions will arise whether something like that spider looking thing is safe in the middle of combat. What if a programme fails? What if soliders develop a moral, real friendship with the computer? \

Alongside this robot, the U.S military has been testing throwable robots in Afghanistan. The Robots, despite looking like cheap remote-control cars are to be used to be the eyes of the solider, before they go into hazardous situations, or entering buildings. The idea is that, they are durable, so can be thrown and provide the scouting, therefore endangering itself rather than a human.

The idea of robots, not long ago seemed like a distant, almost impossible daydream. The closest we would get to a living robot was seeing Megatron or Optimus Prime alter from cars to giant, mechanical beasts. However, with the work of the U.S military, the extension of knowledge and the lengths the Japanese have gone too, all we're missing now is Craig Charles commentary and a fighting arena.

Furthering the point on the Japanese, they have gone to the lenghts of devising robots that can play violins, strut on the catwalk and sing in a way which makes you more likely to buy a CD off a robot than N-Dubz.

The idea of robots, and the immediate thought of the "saved by the bell" type figure is distant. Nowadays a robot has the potential to be a smart, sophisticated, wildly intelligent individual. The prosperity available when we combine the intelligence of the smartest computer programmers and eliminate the naive, reserved outlook of the human. A world with robots sounds somewhat appealing.