While controlling a deadly robot sounds enticing to anyone, the military wants to make sure that they are achieving maximum kill. And adding a HARV (Head-Aimed Remote Viewer) to these robots is massively effective. Essentially a robot version of your own neck and head sitting on a robot, the system provides a “look around” first person shooter control that boosts a remote operator’s overall performance by 300-400%,. Here’s a really excellent video demonstration of the HARV in action:

Adding about $40,000 to the robot’s sticker price, a HARV can bring other site advantages, like night vision and laser targeting. And never before have I felt like all these FPSs that I play are really just training me for WWIII. [botjunkie via DVICE]