his eyes, soldiers can see everything he does. right there. reporter: since the war began, 800 military robots have made the ultimate sacrifice to save their human brethren. we consider that lives, limbs of people that we re able to bring home because of these systems. reporter: in other words, more robots could mean more american lives saved. and a whole new meaning for man s best friend. muhammad lila, abc news, at the bagram airfield in afghanistan. i love that story that s awesome. and they re going to be used for more than just on the battlefield. i actually did a story on this when i was in boston. the same people that make that little roomba, vacuum cleaner, they were creating them to go into the plant in fukushima. after the devastating tsunami. with all the radioactivity. so that s also where these things are going to do. hey, look at you. it s your girlfriend. my robot girlfriend? what s her name? i don t know. this is abc s world news now informing
that is, the first versions of them were completely remotely rated. now we have versions that can take off and land on their own, fly mission points on their own. and the third change is the funds we use them for. initially it was just for surveillance and now for strikes and you have prototypes that are used for caring cargo, medical support, you name it. and, of course, with the increasing function at, the users are growing. initially it was the u.s. only technology and now there are 45 other nations out there that are building, buying and using military robots. so this is emerging and global technology. shepard: soon they believe they can launch them on-site with a terror target of some kind in their eye sight from their iphone which is, way out there. and there is a down side. when you don t have eyes and ears on the ground you can miss
cameras, so a virtual representation of the scene. the first look we have gotten, by the way, this last sunday, the first look inside of the fukushima plant comes via the i-robot packbottoms. and i know we have seen your roomba vacuum. is that sort of the same science between this packbot concept? i-rebottom is a spin-out of m.i.t., a 20-year-old company. we laugh about it being the world s overnight success. but the autonomy, the integration of electro mechanical capability is very similar. but very advanced in our military robots, and very cost effective in our consumer robots that serve in the home. and you mentioned also that these were these have been used for a while now in afghanistan and iraq. so these are the same robots that would, what, detect bombs and dispose of bombs?
probably go up to 1 in 30. tonight, we ve got katie here with us. right here in the studio with us. finally, no delay. it s so weird it may as well be a war zone. it is. to not be on a delay. i feel like i m in fallujah. we re not just talking about these military robots first, i have a present for you. this is your very own controlling l.e.d. name badge. you can take it out and wear it for our segment. look at that. it s just like the delay in new york. very nice, very nice. thank you, katie. let s talk about these robots. you brought one of the models here. let s just show you. this is one of the most popular robots in the battlefield. this is a pac-bot. they make home appliances like
entertaining your kids. to saving lives. we love robots but they can be used on critical search and rescue operations, including mine disaster. people who design and build these lifesaving robots are trying something different. joining me is dr. engineering at texas a&m. great to have you here. you have had all kinds of examples where a robot could have been useful and helpful and had some opportunities to experiment. that s right. we ve been at 11 disasters starting with the world trade center. and we think of them as the huge advances being made in military robots. those are going to get smaller and go into places that people can t go to. the smaller helicopters and airplanes so that the responders on their own don t have to ask when you talk small, let s show people. this robot folded up smaller than a shoe box. this is actually survivor buddy the next phase. what do you do when you find a person and when you find a