Unmanned vehicles

Got a destination too dirty or dangerous for a person to want to go there? The day could soon come when a robot vehicle takes humans' place as a matter of course.

Scientists are focused on developing unmanned machines that can operate in the air, on the ground and under water, doing jobs where deploying people is just too dangerous.

Imagine a fearsome metal-clad humanoid beast with a terrified, scantily-dressed female grasped in his steel claws and you get the typical image of a robot in popular culture. Such stereotypes of man-made automatons emblazoned many a lurid Pulp magazine cover from the early 20th Century, in titles like Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and Astounding.