Where are we with Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicles (UGCV)?

BAE Black Knight.

After reading the Admiral's views on the future of UAVs in the air fight, I became curious.  Where are we with Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicles?  UGCVs have been the darling of every guy that has even a passing interest in scifi warfare (military science fiction is what they prefer you call it) and I wondered where we stand.  Above you see BAE's Black Knight.  Developed at company costs and went no where.

MAARS | QinetiQ North America

MAARS developed by QinetiQ of North America put together a neat package that is based off bomb detection robots but as far as I could tell has gotten no orders (formal orders at least, although I don't doubt that kits have been bought).

The Crusher was a test bed sponsored by DARPA so I guess it really doesn't count, but it was a HIGHLY mobile system and looked big enough to fit a large caliber weapon.

The Oshkosh Terramax is another example of a vehicle that really doesn't belong on the list but I include it because the Pentagon tasked industry to come up with a vehicle that could displace drives and operate in a convoy.  They succeeded.  These trucks ran obstacle courses in the desert, avoided other traffic and could haul an equal load when compared to their manned counterparts.

Above you see the assault Mule.  It died when the FCS died.  The US Army had a winner and I believe this part of the system was ready to go.  It would act in concert with M1's, Bradley's, Stryker's and the other parts of FCS and would have given the Chinese a heart attack.  Instead, it went to the grave because the Army packaged the FCS as one program instead of individual systems.

And finally (for my list) is the vehicle that appears to be the most successful.  The Guardium.  The Israelis use it for border security and early on it was armed.  Photos today show it operating without armament, but the Israelis are tight lipped about their security practices and I would bet body parts that they have all sorts of weapons attached.

Long story short.  With UGCVs, costs will always be a consideration.  If they are armed and armored, require the same amount of maintenance/upkeep as manned vehicles, and provide only limited savings then you'll see people behind the wheel.

We aren't there yet but will probably reach a point where the cost of sending a human where you can send a robot will make as much sense on the ground as it does in the air.

Sidenote:  Yes.  I missed some vehicles/systems.  This is just a brief overview.