US Army looks for robots that can clean up chemical and bioweapons messes

Just in time for the predicted rise of AI-assisted threats

It's bot versus bot! Just in time for the predicted rise of AI-made biological and chemical weapons, the US Army has plans to fight autonomy with autonomy by getting its hands on some bot-based chemical weapon cleanup tech.

The Army recently published a Request For Information on Autonomous Decontamination Systems (ADS) to see what might be out there in the existing commercial market to help its Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) troops more easily clean up contaminated vehicles, infrastructure, and terrain. 

"ADS will reduce manpower and optimize resources required for decontamination operations while mitigating the risk of exposure of warfighters to Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents through robotic means," the Army said in its RFI. 

The Army sees its auto-decontamination machines fitting into platoon-sized groups (40 soldiers or so), where they'll be able to conduct full cleaning cycles, spraying decontaminants and rinsing objects with water. The branch is also looking for ADS to be capable of "precision contamination mapping" using "surface indication technologies to identify, digitize, and track the contamination footprint" as well as "post-decontamination assessment." 

In short, the Army wants to get its CBRN troops out of harm's way and leave the dirty work to the bots. 

The RFI notes that the Army is seeking tethered and untethered drones to serve as part of ADS, with aerial and ground units to be used for detection of contaminants and actual cleaning work, and it wants bots transportable by light and medium tactical vehicles (i.e., trucks, not armored units like the Stryker or a Humvee). 

Since this is just an RFI, there's no indication if or when the Army might acquire ADS units, or which it might select from the ones presented - if any. The filing notes the branch isn't asking for pricing or other details and is just seeking information about the feasibility of such tech. 

We reached out to the Army to learn more about ADS, including whether it's something the Army is definitely planning to develop and on what timeline, but didn't immediately hear back. 

The fact that the Army is seeking autonomous CBRN cleanup units makes perfect sense given the warnings presented by AI experts in recent years.

Pharmaceutical researchers said in 2022 that AI algorithms used to generate therapeutic drugs could easily be tweaked to produce bioweapons, and last year Stanford bioengineers used a synthetic AI-generated bacteriophage that was able to modify E. coli bacteria into a fa more infectious form. 

Speaking to Congress in 2023, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI like the ones his company makes would be advanced enough to develop bioweapons in as little as two or three years. In other words, by 2026 or so. 

"Today, certain steps in the use of biology to create harm involve knowledge that cannot be found on Google or in textbooks and requires a high level of specialized expertise," Amodei told Senators. "If we don't have things in place that are restraining what can be done with AI systems, we're going to have a really bad time." 

That was three years ago, and it's safe to say little to no progress has been made in reining in the threats posed by malicious AI since then. ®