Amid concerns that robots will, among other things, strip human decision making from military action, academics, government experts and advocacy groups are gathering for a week-long conference on the topic.

Named "lethal autonomous weapons systems" but dubbed "killer robots," the groups are meeting to discuss the technological, military, ethical and legal facets of autonomous weapons systems.

The conference, which is being held in Geneva this week, merely intends to discuss and set definitions about future weapons of concern.

"This is about machines that can target and kill humans without any human intervention," Bantan Nugroho, of the treaty implementation unit said. "Theoretically, these weapons don't exist yet."