When U.S. forces went into Iraq, the original invasion had no robotic
systems on the ground. By the end of 2004, there were 150 robots on the ground
in Iraq; a year later there were 2,400; by the end of 2008, there were about
12,000 robots of nearly two dozen varieties operating on the ground in Iraq. As
one retired Army officer put it, the “Army of the Grand Robotic” is taking
shape.