A Flying Humvee ?

Then there’s the fact of actually lifting wounded Marines out of battle. One option is the cargo drone-copter that the Marines are eyeing, the Kaman K-MAX helicopter, can carry up to 6000 pounds. Whether it can safely ferry wounded troops without medical personnel on board and get them to a doctor within the so-called “golden hour” — the first hour after injury — has yet to be tested.

Pulling the stunt off technically will be just one of the things the robo-copter will have to do. They’ll also need to reassure troops, somehow, that they’re in good (mechanical) hands: “Operator trust will play an important role in the usefulness of these tools and that must be considered in the development of the approach.” The robots may be autonomous, but they’re still going to have to work with us humans.