War machines: for now, lethal robots not likely to run on auto-pilot.

With the ability to track so many targets at once, then lay down fire, it's not hard to imagine MDARS being converted to some kind of battle-bot with an array of lethal weapons instead of pepper-ball guns.

Everett acknowledged that this could come to pass, although this version of MDARS would not be ready for that. It would not perform well in rough terrain, for example.

Still, outfitting a robot with a nonlethal weapon it is authorized to fire without a human in the loop is another step in the evolution.

The military may decide it never wants an autonomous robot carrying a lethal weapon. "No problem. We just back off to what [they] will accept," Everett said.

"Just make sure you keep getting their feedback and you're not diverging on some spooky laboratory path that nobody wants to go down, and it will work out. If you try to force something on them they're not ready for, it's going to backfire."