The latest “we’re all going to die” story comes from a professor in Sheffield who is worried about the explosive growth in the use of military robots. Did you know, for example, that over 4,000 robots are currently in military service in Iraq? But it is not the state-sanctioned military that Professor Sharkey (a former judge on Robot Wars) is worried about:

“With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn’t require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons.”

Professor Sharkey is reluctant to explain how such robots could be made but he points out that a small GPS guided drone with autopilot could be made for around £250.

Yep, and you can just imagine what some alienated geeky teenager might do with one of those.