[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the TECHNOLOGY REPORT in Special English. [00:06.70]An international rights group has called on world governments [00:13.17]to ban fully autonomous weapon systems. [00:16.86]Human Rights Watch recently released a report called, [00:22.26]"Losing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots." [00:27.02]It warns that fully autonomous systems [00:30.64]could increase risk to civilians during armed conflict. [00:36.54]Militaries around the world are increasingly using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, [00:43.41]also called drones, in modern warfare. [00:47.17]They say drones make war safer and more effective. [00:52.39]The machines can gather intelligence, help identify targets, [00:58.13]and provide deadly force - but only if a human operator gives the order. [01:05.05]Human Rights Watch fears that within 30 years [01:10.28]developments in technology could remove the need for human operators. [01:16.66]David Mepham is the United Kingdom director of Human Rights Watch. [01:22.55]"One of the things that holds us back [01:24.30]from barbarism in contexts of war obviously this distinction [01:27.34]between combatants and civilians and we are worried about [01:30.05]a robotic weapon of the future not being able to distinguish [01:33.01]between a child holding out an ice cream and someone holding a weapon." [01:36.28]The United States and other militaries have stated [01:40.65]they have no plans to remove human supervision [01:44.77]over the decision to use deadly force. [01:47.94]Human Rights Watch says a treaty would help to guarantee [01:54.23]that this does not happen. The group says a ban on what it calls [02:00.11]"killer robots" would be similar to current bans [02:04.37]on the use of landmines and cluster bombs. [02:08.05]Hugo Rosemont is an independent security expert in Britain. [02:14.48]He says discussions about the future of autonomous technology [02:20.30]should not be limited to its military uses. [02:24.67]"There also needs to be a public discussion [02:26.84]around some of the wider applications, [02:28.61]such as in the use of disaster management and humanitarian relief." [02:32.43]For example, France sent remote-controlled robots to Japan last year [02:38.21]to help contain the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power center. [02:44.30]This was a job that most people would agree was better left to machines. [02:50.70]In a separate but related story, airplane passengers [02:56.61]could soon take to the air without a pilot on the plane. [03:00.89]In the next few weeks, a group in Britain will carry out test flights [03:07.82]of a Jetstream 31 passenger airplane. [03:11.68]A pilot on the ground will control the plane through its autonomous flight system. [03:18.95]Safety pilots will be on the aircraft to make sure everything operates correctly. [03:26.55]The tests will show how well the plane navigates [03:31.13]and follows the orders it receives from the ground. [03:35.37]The Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evalutaion and Assessment group [03:42.24]is leading the project. [03:44.15]The flights are set to leave from the Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England.