Military robots are autonomous robots or remote-controlled devices designed for military applications.

Such systems are currently being researched by a number of militaries.
Broadly defined, military robots date back to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 in the form of the German Goliath tracked mine

Goliath tracked mine

The Goliath tracked mine - complete German name: Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath - was a remote controlled German-engineered demolition vehicle, also known as the beetle tank to Allies....

s and the Soviet teletank

Teletank

Teletanks were a series of wireless remotely controlled unmanned robotic tanks produced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and early 1940s. They saw their first combat use in the Winter war, at the start of World War II. A teletank is controlled by radio from a control tank at a distance of...

s. The MQ-1 Predator drone was when "CIA officers began to see the first practical returns on their decade-old fantasy of using aerial robots to collect intelligence".

The use of robots in warfare, although traditionally a topic for science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, is being researched as a possible future means of fighting wars.