US government shows off massive AI-powered robot tank with green eyes

Just in case you thought the future of artificial intelligence-powered devices wasn't already scary enough, the Pentagon has released a video of a massive autonomous tank has menacing green eyes.

The massive robotic tank is a project being worked on by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and was engineered under the agency's Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency) program, or RACER. The new automonous tank measures 20 feet in length, weighs approximately 12 tons and is capable of reaching speeds up to 25 miles per hour.

Now, while you may think that is quite slow, the tank is navigating that speed over rough terrain such as heavy vegetation, ditches, rocks, and more - all completely autonomously. Additionally, DARPA engineers decided to place two glowing lights at the front of the tank, which resemble glowing green eyes. However, engineers have said these eyes have no function at all besides being status indicators for the vehicle.

Furthermore, the robot tank is powered by artificial intelligence, with DARPA writing its overall goal is to achieve "platform agnostic autonomy of combat-scale vehicles in complex, mission-relevant off-road environments that are significantly more unpredictable than on-road conditions."