Russia will apparently accelerate the development of armed battlefield robots -- including humanoid robots -- that can decide whether or not to kill human foes by themselves.

This following a recent troubling statement by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin who praised the ability of a Russian-made humanoid robot named "F.E.D.O.R." that recently proved its ability to aim and fire pistols at targets.

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F.E.D.O.R. stands for "Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research." It's a humanoid robot originally designed to accompany Russian cosmonauts on future space missions such as those going to the Moon and Mars. There are videos proving F.E.D.O.R.'s ability to operate a drill; drive a car; turn a wheel and even do push-ups.

But as proven many times in the past in many countries, however, a purely scientific invention with military uses won't remain purely scientific for long. Especially in a militarist country such as Russia. That's the case for F.E.D.O.R.

F.E.D.O.R. is now capable of firing a pistol using both hands, according to Rogozin. Videos and photos show F.E.D.O.R. with a 9 mm automatic pistol in either hand.

"The robot of the F.E.D.O.R. platform showed skills of firing using both arms. Currently the work on fine motor skills and decision algorithms is underway," tweeted Rogozin.

​Rogozin said training F.E.D.O.R. to shoot is a way of teaching the robot to instantaneously prioritize targets and make decisions.

"We are not creating a Terminator but artificial intelligence which will have a great practical importance in various fields," he said.

Rogozin also hopes Russia's robot research will lead to military solutions, where one robot will be able to do the work of up to 10 soldiers. By "work" Rogozin also probably meant killing enemy soldiers.

Russia has made huge strides in developing tracked and wheeled battlefield robots that can be armed with assault rifles; machine guns; RPGs and even anti-tank guided missiles.

It won't be difficult for the Russians to arm F.E.D.O.R. with deadlier weapons such as an assault rifle or an automatic grenade launcher. The only thing the Russians have to do is to take the human operator out of the loop and allow F.E.D.O.R. to kill anyone it sees as a threat.

And doesn't F.E.D.O.R. bear a slight resemblance to a Cyberdyne Systems series T-800 Model 101 Terminator?

Doesn't It?

You can view F.E.D.O.R. firing his pistols here.

TagsRussia, humanoid robots, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, F.E.D.O.R., Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research