British defense officials want to see what the private sector can come up with in the robotic devices of destruction and other types of warfare department.

Students and companies will compete in the Grand Challenge to see who will add a dollop of wide-eyed science to the British military. They want machines to do the jobs that are even more dangerous than usual in a war zone, like finding snipers or explosive devices.

There’s helicopters, balloons, kites, flying saucers, and cars vying for the crown of robot warrior. Ideally, the winning vehicle will operate without human intervention as it looks for a threat and reports on it.

The Guardian said one team would try to keep its strategy with robot cars simple:

Burgess, of the Mindsheet team, says they hope to enter several robotic cars in the final that automatically drive to vantage points before beaming video of the village back to base. In his view many of the finalists’ robots are too elaborate for war zones. “A lot of these teams have got flying machines or big vehicles, but they’ll be on eBay within minutes of arriving in Afghanistan,” he said. “And with ours, you could put some P4 explosive on the back, drive it into a compound and detonate it. It’s fun and gets the job done.”

The first person to encounter one of those may not have quite as much fun having a robot car drive under him and go boom.