Traditionally, placing troops in occupied territory has been the only means of effectively controlling an area. As recent military actions have shown, though, post-combat resistance is extremely costly in resources and lost lives. Though many companies have now begun to offer robotic telepresent combat systems, these systems are, for the most part, proprietary and poorly performing. Further impeding the adoption of these systems is the uniform high cost involved. An inexpensive platform using modified off-the-shelf technologies, developed with free and open-source software, has potential to largely replace the need for human presence in hostile areas. This is an area of great and growing military demand. A proposed communications and weapons platform utilizing civilian "All Terrain Vehicles" (ATV), consumer laptops, and adapted small arms, could meet this demand as an interim solution, pending development of more dedicated systems.
Granted, the open-source crap makes me want to punch myself in the face, and a lot of my "proposal" is crap to make it sound techno-fabulous, but it's very practical. I think with about $10k in funding, you could easily get a prototype device that handles 75% of a human soldier's combat duties. I'm thinking a hunting-purpose ATV, hardened consumer laptop, consumer video cameras, and an M249 on an RC mount. Add in a video screen with hardware from a conference call box, and you can interact with the "organics". Applications would be enormous, though better to keep it away from social situations.. perimeter patrol, initial checkpoint contact, area denial, or convoy escort.
Tack on an SPR, add in thermal sights, and you can deal with snipers with near-impunity... MK-19s: bad taste, more filling. You could fit a LOT of 40mm yumminess on there!
Then I'm thinking about sitting in a control trailer, and having it go down the road to get me hot apple pies at McD's... Aim high!