I have a memory of something somewhere discussing the reluctance of the Imperial military to use robots. I don't recall the source, and I don't recall if it was limited to warbots or if it was more generalized. There's a lot of potential for useful military bots that don't involve warbots. CT Book 8 and MT offer ways to design them, but it's likely other versions have bot design rules as well, so I'm not going to focus too tightly on details.
Useful military bots include:
Armed bots that might not quite meet the definition of warbots include:
Useful military bots include:
- small eye-bots with Light-Intensification, IR, and passive audio whose sole function is to creep along low while sending back what they see and hear to handlers behind them or, equipped with gravs, to offer an aerial view from a target that's small enough to escape notice and difficult to hit if noticed, possibly with light arms and wire cutters to deal with barbed wire or other obstructions;
- small remote-bots providing jamming or radar support away from the troops' position;
- small commo-bots whose job is to relay laser communications;
- small packbots carrying a squad's supplies, able to load or unload themselves or entrench themselves if needed, able to return to a company resupply point to gather more supplies and return;
- medic-bots able to carry a single wounded individual from a combat position back to the company casualty station while performing basic emergency stabilization such as monitoring vitals, packing wounds, starting IV plasma, and providing O2 support - these functions might also be integrated into a packbot so it could function as both;
- ponybots intended to provide combined transport and supply - there's a potential for these to be cheaper than grav belts but, for a bit more, they could offer additional utility such as being equipped with laser coms for secure communication and limbs and tools to assist with digging foxholes and trenches;
- powerbots carrying small fusion reactors to provide recharging in the field;
- small mine-detecting bots equipped to detect and mark mines in advance of a moving infantry formation;
- decoy bots placing and maintaining inflatable decoys that gave the appearance and heat signature of entrenched troops to draw fire and give the impression of a larger force.
Armed bots that might not quite meet the definition of warbots include:
- robotic mobile weapon mounts with a small crew-served weapon, either small enough for an individual to use them from a seated or prone position or equipped for a rider, or operated by a remote human handler, with the bot acting as loader and carrying reloads;
- point defense bots equipped with point defense weapons and fire control, programmed solely to function in a point defense role while accompanying a squad of infantry.
- expendable mobile missile bots carrying launch rails or launch tubes for missiles that are targeted and controlled by a human handler some distance from the bot, allowing missiles to be launched without giving away the location of the handler, possibly with their own arms and tools to entrench themselves, and small enough to be fielded without being as easily spotted as vehicles, giving infantry in the field a platoon-level response to armor.
- gunbots carrying several infantry small arms controlled remotely by a human handler, intended to provide suppressive fire in advance of or at flanking positions from the handler.
), just pull out the next one and keep doing your mission.
