Broadly defined, military robots date back to World War II and the Cold War in the form of the German Goliath tracked mines and the Soviet teletanks. The introduction of the MQ-1 Predator drone was when " CIA officers began to see the first practical returns on their decade-old fantasy of using aerial robots to collect intelligence".

The Goliath tracked mine (German: Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath, "Goliath Light Charge Carrier") was a series of two unmanned ground vehicles used by the German Army as disposable demolition vehicles during World War II.

Dec 16, 2015 · These long-gone systems used servos, gyroscopes, motors, and rotary switches, and they’re all lovingly described in Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II, an encyclopedic history of...

Mar 24, 2009 · Long before Predator drones and PackBots patrolled Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned systems were used in combat—as far back as WWI and WWII, in fact. Here’s a quick look at the coolest of the ...

Feb 16, 2021 · In late 1940, inspired by a French miniature tracked vehicle prototype it recovered from the Seine, the Wehrmacht Ordnance Bureau ordered Bremen-based automaker Carl F.W. Borgward to develop a similar vehicle, capable of delivering at least 100 pounds of high explosive to a target by remote control.

Oct 14, 2014 · The German V-1 buzz-bomb, a jet-powered cruise missile, was World War II’s most famous drone. Like the Kettering Bug and some modern drones, most V-1s lifted off from a rail launcher and...

May 5, 2011 · As World War II loomed, Denny thought his radio-controlled planes would make perfect target drones for anti-aircraft gunners. In the late 1930s he pitched the U.S. Army on …

Jan 26, 2023 · There were several ideas for robot tanks during World War II, and the Nazis even deployed a small remote controlled tank called Goliath. One version of the Goliath carried 132 pounds of explosives and was controlled by a cable that could stretch roughly a mile long.

Apr 4, 2012 · Under the headline, “Gigantic robots, controlled by wireless, to fight our battles”, the Californian paper ran a sensational – and terrifying - story about the impending future of warfare.

Mar 5, 2025 · It was an remote controlled vehicle that was used by engineers for the demolition of tanks, barricades, bunkers and other fortified positions. The Goliath was one of the most interesting...