The vehicle carries a small black-and-white television camera to enable its human controller to drive it to position and select a target.

When two alert zones overlapped, a computer would tell a human controller, and offer advice on what should be done.

"We have liftoff," said one of the human controllers in the time-honored tradition.

These tests were with a human controller giving voice commands to the robot to give it orders.

It even has a speaker built into the jockey's body to allow the human controller, standing in the infield, to urge his horse on.

At first, the aircraft will be programmed to ask human controllers for permission to bomb targets.

The difference, then, has been their human controllers who clearly have a great deal of resourcefulness and imagination.

They were operated by human controllers in a similar way to how they are today.

However, it also can be operated remotely by human controllers if problems arise.

Each team consists of a uniquely themed robot and two human controllers.