The soldier's tolerance for autonomous systems

Abstract

Autonomous robots are here and military leaders have typically sought to understand the human-machine relationship as a matter of trust - a human-machine engineering problem with a largely technical solution. This paper argues that engineering is merely one part of the challenge and that trust in robotics and automation ought to be understood in a much broader socio-psychological context, defined by a power process, the capacity of soldiers to endure subjection to technology and the extent to which automation impinges upon one's autonomy or otherwise impacts the soldier's wellbeing.