Robotics (Tiberium)

Robotics is a branch of research that deals with developing machines that possess the mechanical dexterity of motion, and some form of environmental awareness. These are complex machines, separated from mechanized walkers, which are generally human-piloted vehicles, from cyborgs, which are the union of robotics and biology, and from the biomechanical constructs of the Scrin, due to their nonterrestrial nature.

Second World War
The first true military application of robotics were the Super Tanks, powerful tanks built by the Soviet Union and governed by computer programming. Given the resources of the time, this programming was significantly primitive, and the tanks went berserk. The prototypes were destroyed by Allied Forces in the area.

However, robots truly only saw widespread military useage during the Second Tiberium War, with the development of unmanned military drones.

Unmanned Drones
Unmanned areal vehicles (UAVs) have been long in existence since the Second World War. However, it would be until the 1980's and 90's when miniaturization of the required technologies that increased interest in UAVs. They presented a possibility of developing aircraft without risking human lives, as well as cheaper, capable weapons. In the 1990's and early 20th century, UAV's such as the MQ-1 Predator saw increasing use, including reconnaissance and attacking targets.

Following the First Tiberium War, research into unmanned drones increased. By the Second Tiberium War, GDI and Nod had developed several unmanned drones. These drones were controlled by AIs. There were also attempts to have unmanned aircraft.

During the war, two drones were often deployed by both GDI and Nod. The Hunter-Seeker droid was a robot that was programmed to seek out a target, move to it at an extremely high speed, and detonate, causing massive damage to the target. The Limpet drone acted like intelligent land mines, the drones would burrow into the ground, and attach themselves to the underside of a vehicle. This would slow the vehicle to a crawl. Nod also made an AI named CABAL and LEGION.

However, by the end of the Firestorm Crisis, success of these systems proved elusive. AI controlled units proved to be less effective than systems in which humans supplemented the AI control. Ground-based electronic countermeasures heavily affected the vulnerable unmanned system. There were attempts to put these control systems on the ground and remote control the units. However, Nod special forces developed sophisticated techniques that jammed the control signals.

Although research into unmanned aircraft continued, a majority of aircraft following the Crisis were manned. By the Third Tiberium War, drones were used in utility purposes, such as the repair drones that were deployed from weapons factories, Rigs and Repair APCs to repair damaged vehicles. Unmanned drones had civilian applications, such as camera drones used by reporters. Recent Intel from InOps has revealed that the Marcion-lead Black Hand utilize a robotic Anti-Air tank called the Mantis, despite their shunning of "soulless machines". The Mantis is armed with deadly Missile Launchers which will bring down even the most strongest Scrin Starships and even Motherships feared it.

The Brotherhood and GDI still used robots in the Ascension Conflict.