Coming soon: Unmanned robot aircraft to fly domestic skies

Unmanned aircraft are generally used by the military to spy on terrorist camps and even threaten enemy aircraft, but soon they may be seen flying in the domestic skies, too.

They could work as airborne traffic cops, patrolling the border and maybe even shuttling cargo between cities.

"People are saying that this isn't a niche, gee-whiz technology. These are things you need to think about," Discovery News quoted Wesley Randall, former US Air Force logistics officer and professor at Auburn University, as saying.

Greater numbers of unmanned aircraft could, however, mean a greater chance of something going wrong.

Randall and his team will consider how and where robot craft should fly — at which altitude, on which routes and at what times.

Other grey areas are whether these drones should be part of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) air traffic control system and get directions from control towers, or should be remotely operated by pilots with joysticks having the same training as commercial pilots. More importantly, who is responsible if there is a crash?

According to Peter Singer, author of the new book Wired For War, there are always evolving roles in war and civilian society, and in the next few decades there will be some kind of pairing of humans and unmanned systems.

The human fear factor will probably not allow unmanned aircraft to fly passengers. But cargo planes might work. "They use less gas, have less weight and overall less waste," Randall said.