The military's research arm said it hopes to explore how machines can "recognize new situations and environments and adapt to them."

The military is starting tests on the world's largest unmanned surface vessel - a self-driving, 132-foot ship designed to travel thousands of miles out at sea without a single crew member on board.

It's shaping up to be a snail's pace race featuring cutting-edge robots doing simple but critical tasks.

A group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates are adding their names to a growing international effort to ban "fully autonomous weapons" or killer robots.