Paradroid? Five robots that will convince anyone Terminator might come true

Boston Dynamics’ robots are some of the scariest this world has ever seen - especially Atlas, a machine which seems to have been built to resemble The Terminator as closely as possible.

Google’s recent purchase of the company - its eighth buyout of a robotics firm - hopefully won’t mark the start of a war between man and machine, but Atlas, standing 6ft tall and weighing 23 stone, is certainly a suitable front man were anyone thinking of a YouTube announcement of Armageddon.

The laser-eyed titanium android is so agile it can not only climb stairs, but also jump - and pick up and use human tools.

But several other companies are developing machines that could give anyone a bad case of “robophobia” - even though some are, in theory, built to save lives.

Some, of course, aren’t. The ‘Transformer’ robot, Maars, offers a choice of three levels of lethality when confronted - moving from dazzling lasers up to tear gas, and finally up to belt-fed machine guns and high-explosives that can destroy buildings, cars and people with equal ease.


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There are 43 nations currently developing their own unmanned vehicles, including China, Iran and Russia. Human Rights watch has issued a warning that ‘Terminator’-style killer robots could be developed in decades - and that several governments are working on the technology.

Our top five robots should help to convince the sceptical that James Cameron’s 1982 film The Terminator may actually have been grimly accurate prophecy - not sci fi.

The masked robot ‘fireman’ who may be scarier than flame itself
Name: Octavia
Maker: U.S. navy
Purpose: Firefighting
Abilities: Understands human speech, infrared ‘eyes’, backpack hose
Threat level: Disturbing

If you’re on board an American navy vessel and fire breaks out, this terrifying doll-like face may be the first sign that you are safe. Octavia is designed to fight fires, with a flamethrower-like backpack filled with compressed air and water - and responds to gestures and voice commands from a human ‘handler’.

'The human is able to provide situational information to the robot by voice and gestural commands,' the Navy says. ‘Here, the human partner is telling Octavia the general location of the fire before she enters the compartment.’

Octavia detects fire using twin infrared cameras, and aims jets of water herself. The U.S. military offer no explanation for her terrifying doll-like ‘face’. Octavia is built so, “A Navy firefighter can interact peer-to-peer, shoulder-to-shoulder with a humanoid robotic firefighter.” She also has her own Facebook page.

The robot that can climb like a monkey in Zero-G
Name: Robonaut 2
Maker: NASA
Purpose: Crew on Space Station
Abilities: New ‘climbing legs’ enable R2 to walk inside and outide the Space Station, 9ft leg span, dextrous hands
Threat level: I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Dave

There are four Robonaut 2s - known, inevitably, as R2 - which are used as ‘crew members’ on the Space Station. Armed with infrared and normal camera eyes, their hands “approach  human dexterity”, NASA says, having proved this by having Robonaut shake hands with the ISS’s flesh and blood crew.

Future versions will have wheels for exploring the moon, and Mars, but for now, NASA’s focus is on R2’s new climbing legs, which stretch out to an alarming 9ft span, allowing the android to walk about both inside and outside the space station. R2 has ‘eyes’ in its feet, allowing it to grab onto handrails and sockets as it clambers about. It can also use human tools with ease. R2’s new legs will be delivered early next year.

The robot assassin that can fly for 36 hours with no radio contact
Name: Taranis
Maker: British Aerospace
Purpose: Killing targets on other continents
Threat level: Terrifying

Prototypes of Taranis are already flying now, a ‘stealth’ drone designed to fly entirely on its own for up to 36 hours with no radio contact - but it’s a ‘black project’, shrouded in secrecy. The drone, or technologies derived from it, will enter battle around 2025.

It’s capable of severing radio contact entirely, planning routes using its own computers, and selecting targets on different continents. The ‘stealth’ element means it’s as effective against other modern nations with radar and electronic counter-measures as it is against Taliban fighters. The one thing it can’t do, of course, is pull the trigger. Decisions to kill are taken by humans - for now.

Planet of the Apes - the clanking German space monkey
Name: iStruct
Maker: German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence
Purpose: Space exploration
Abilities: Shuffling, crater exploration, footwork
Threat level: Low

Whether or not the German scientists in the Centre for Artificial Intelligence watched Charlton Heston’s classic Planet of the Apes before creating iStruct is unknown - but watch the space robot walk, and it’s unmistakably ape-like. The iStruct robot lumbers across landscapes on four limbs, with the heavy, rhythmic walk of a gorilla - thanks to a an “active” artificial spine, which ensures the four-legged robot is more mobile on rough terrain. The robot’s feet include 43 pressure sensors - distance sensors and accelerometers help it crawl across craters no Rover could explore.

The ‘Transformer’ robot that throws beanbags - or just kills you
Name: Maars
Maker: Qinetiq
Purpose: Frontline war fighting

Abilities: Can work miles away as a guard, using motion sensors - has a siren, non-lethal weapons such as beanbags, plus a rocket launcher that can destroy tanks.
Threat Level: Iron Man

Qinetiq billed its MAARS robot as a ‘Transformer’ - but it can’t turn into a car or lorry, sadly - it’s just got a very, very large array of attachments you can put on it. It has cameras, motion sensors and a loudspeaker for sentry duty - and actually offers three levels of lethality in its weapons.

For a ‘warning shot’, try yelling through its loudspeaker, or blinding foes with an ‘eye safe’ laser. Still there? Perhaps some tear gas or smoke grenades might persuade them to leave. If that doesn’t work, Maars can really go to town - it’s got a belt-fed machine gun of the sort usually seen on tanks, and a choice of high-explosive 40mm grenades capable of shredding cars, buildings, and, of course, people.