Flying saucers, tiny helicopters compete in British war game

Mehmet Ali Erbil, of Middlesex University, poses for photographs with an unmanned flying vehicle for reconnaissance during a Ministry of Defense competition in central London, Wednesday, April 30, 2008. The competition, aimed at encouraging scientists, inventors and academics to turn ideas into machines for army use in urban environments, has attracted a range of futuristic vehicles and technologies that could one day help British forces to identify and avert threats on operations. They are currently being developed by teams from universities, schools and private business from across the U.K. Finalists will take part in a mock battle in August in Copehill Down, a village that was modeled on an East German one when it was built for military training during the Cold War. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori)

(AP) -- Emotion-detecting robot cars will face off against eavesdropping flying saucers in the English countryside when scientists, academics and schoolchildren compete later this year to design the next generation of military equipment.