When it comes to autonomous lethal weapons, one of the big fears is that war is more likely to occur because such systems are less expensive and carry virtually no risk of injury to soldiers — but do carry potential catastrophic consequences. However, South Korea’s Samsung SGR-A1 robot, standing guard at the DMZ, establishes that in certain cases, such systems actually lessen the chances of the idea of free spirited war turning into reality. At least that’s what Alexander Velez-Green, writing for Lawfare, says. Velez-Green takes a hard look at the SGR-AI robot and the controversy around whether it is a “human on or in the loop” system. In other words, is the robot capable of autonomous engagement or does it require a human go-ahead to fire? According to Velez-Green, “we cannot be sure that the SGR-A1 has an autonomous function. But we can confidently say that neither Samsung Techwin nor South Korea could admit to it even if it did.” Nonetheless, he stands firm in his belief regarding the “stabilizing effect that systems like the SGR-A1 can bring to some conflict zones.” Follow Velez-Green’s argument here.