Playdate for the Pentagon

A system installed in a large Ford pickup truck looked more like a family-vacation outfit than a security tool. Each of four passengers had a color video screen and easy access to a small box with knobs and a joystick. Only this wasn't a game: it was part of a remotely operated weapons system. The screens display views from cameras atop the truck with a range, clarity and thermal-imaging capacity that permit operators to see what the human eye cannot. The joystick allows a gunner to aim the cameras and fire a machine gun, also mounted on the truck bed, while the crew is protected inside the armored cab.

Much of the emphasis at this year's show was on innovations, such as the remodeled Ford, that take soldiers a step away from maximum danger. Quinn, the robot-program manager, thinks the future belongs to those who will move humans even farther from the battlefield. Several of his Talons are already on their way to Iraq. •