– Defense News – Yet, water-going robots bring unforeseen challenges — technological ones, to be sure, but also legal, regulatory and ethical tangles. Drones that fly or crawl on the ground are controlled by radio waves, but it is difficult — often impossible — to communicate with underwater vehicles. The answer, it seems, is autonomy — robots that are not remotely piloted, but that operate on their own. “There are legal implications,” especially if the drones are armed, said Card, the director of naval intelligence and the chief of information dominance. “We are going to really have to think our way through this.”