Life has finally mirrored the flick the Minority Report, as the Pentagon has just asked for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human."

Apparently, the Pentagon top brass likes robots, but feels that too many of their troops are diverted from killing people to control them. They feel it is a much better bet to have a pack of robots controlled by one person.

Since military contractors iRobot installed Tasers into their military robots it is only a matter of time before packs of droids hunt down pesky demonstrators with paralyzing weapons. In some countries they could even run down the street hunting dissidents who dare to say that the government is not very nice.

Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University said the spec that the Americans were using was something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of wild dogs.

The idea is that the robots will become autonomous and armed, Wright said. They will be equipped with human detection and tracking devices, including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat.

More here.