Combat bots - friends or foes?

Combat bots are built to protect, serve and - should the necessity arise - fight alongside their human "comrades" against a common enemy. Meanwhile, fatal accidents involving "friendly fire" by said machines are no longer rare occurrences. In order to avoid incorrect identification of an assailable target by a misprogrammed robot, manufacturers are increasingly turning to genetic authorization to recognize allies. The default settings of a drone, mech or bot can be overwritten by uploading a fragment of a person's unique DNA genome that the machines will thereafter identify as an "ally". Routine genetic authorization checks are quick and painless and can be carried out at easy-to-use Access Points.