The entirely self aware and fully autonomous Black Knight combat walker is a four-legged behemoth of — oh wait, that's tomorrow's headline. This "Unmanned Combat Vehicle," being developed for the US Army by weapons purveyor BAE Systems, is actually just a 9.5 ton robot tank. One that could, potentially, cruise around and engage targets on its own with its 30 mm cannon and machine gun.

Like a child's toy, the Black Knight can be guided by an operator via remote control and viewing screens, safely out of harm's way. Its second mode of operation, however, sees it planning paths and routes around obstacles all on its own, identifying hostiles to take out. Of course, there's no reason to worry: the Black Knight won't open fire unless the order is green-lighted by the observing operator.

BAE Systems' Black Knight is still a very early prototype. — Kevin Hall

Wired, via Gizmodo