The Air Force wants to take away Staff Sgt. Migu

The Air Force wants to take away Staff Sgt. Miguel Jimenez's job, and that's just fine by him.

The Miami airman was plucked from his normal security duties at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base to help test whether a robotic vehicle can take the place of humans in guarding air bases and troops.

"If somebody wants to spend the money and send something like that out there instead of my life, I'm all about that," Jimenez said Tuesday of the robots that  cost from $200,000 to $500,000.

One robot being tested is a Jeep-size, four-wheeled vehicle that has been equipped with radar, television cameras and an infrared scan to detect people, vehicles and other objects. It carries a breadbox-sized mini-robot that can be launched to search under vehicles, inside buildings and other small places.

Another robot is fashioned from an off-the-shelf, four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, giving it added versatility because a human also can ride it like a normal ATV. Both vehicles can be remotely operated from  laptop computers and can be equipped with remotely fired weapons, like an M-16 rifle or pepper spray.

"What we are hoping is the robots will actually detect the enemy first," said Capt. Adolfo Meana Jr., chief of the concepts division for the Force Protection Battlelab at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

"If you shoot the robot we don't care. We know you're there, you're hostile, and we can keep our forces in reserve to move tactically against the enemy. The robots will  save our troops' lives," he said.