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[LONDON, 25 September 2008] - The US has called for proposals to develop a new type of cluster bomb that can lock on to a target and chase it for more than five kilometres. According to the Pentagon, the new design aims to 'increase accuracy and reduce collateral damage'. However, Professor Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University in the UK, an expert in robotics and computer science, has voiced concern about the ethics of giving robots the power to decide when and who to attack: “I can’t see any way that it could have the sensing capabilities to determine the difference between military and civilian vehicles. So if it is pursuing a vehicle that overtakes a school bus, how will it know which is which when it reacquires the target?” An estimated 80 million landmines are still buried worldwide. Over 80 per cent of landmine victims are civilian, of which nearly one-third are women and children. Deadly toys Cluster bombs are made up of a big container which opens in mid-air, dropping hundreds of smaller individual sub-munitions, or "bomblets", across a wide area. However, many do not detonate and are often found years later by children who mistake them for toys. US opts out of international treaty In May, 111 countries approved a global treaty which would ban current designs of cluster bombs. The new international treaty to ban cluster munitions will open for ratifications on 3 December 2008. See more details on www.clusterconvention.org. The US, one of the world’s biggest producers and stockpilers, opted out of the treaty, announcing that it would continue to use and export even the most unreliable kind of cluster bombs for the next decade, arguing for a technological solution, such as their “BLU-108 sensor fused weapon” that is sold as deactivating in a short period if it does not detonate. [Sources: Metro UK, Professor Noel Sharkey, the Landmine Survivors Network] Further information