LONDON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A leading British expert has warned that a robot arms race is underway as governments around the world are rushing to develop military robots capable of killing autonomously without considering the legal and moral implications.

    Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University, Britain, gave the warning before a one-day conference in London on Wednesday, according to New Scientist.

    Over 4,000 semi-autonomous robots are already deployed by the United States in Iraq, and other countries including several European nations as well as Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore and Israel are developing similar technologies, according to the expert.

    The U.S. Department of Defense published in last December an "Unmanned systems roadmap" proposing to spend about 4 billion U.S. dollars by 2010 on robotic weapons.

    Sharkey said he became "really scared" after researching plans outlined by the United States and other nations to roboticise their military forces.

    Concerned about the prospect of having robots decided for themselves when to "pull the trigger," Sharkey was quoted as saying "The main problem is that these systems do not have the discriminative power to do that."

    The expert suggests that governments and robotics engineers re-examine current plans, and perhaps consider an international ban on autonomous weapons for the time-being.