User blog comment:Lux capacitor/A small discussion./@comment-26104528-20150525180422

Times like this is when you have to think about cost. Point is, the processing power needed to run a sentient-AI program is a bit much for a robotic soldier. Since you want to be able to make a lot of those things quickly and the Atlesian Military does, you need them cheap. This is how the United States beat the Japanese; we out-built them since we had way more industrial capacity in addition to technology.

I'd probably have to go with pre-programmed. Something like Penny was probably a one-off which must have been horendously expensive. Meanwhile, the AK-200s, we see in massive numbers in the Vol. 2 finale and in that episode, they fight EXTREMELY robotically. Upright poses, one-handing rifles (i think; it's been a while). They look like the cannon fodder Battle Droids from star wars. It doesn't look natural (or self-preservationist) at all, while sentient Penny's movements do.

"Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics." - Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC