The development and application of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) is one of the most pressing problems of international security and peace. Stakeholders from politics, civil society, military, science and academia are debating controversially whether and to what extent the expansion of AI-based mechanized autonomy threatens a loss of human control over crucial acts of war. The transregional and interdisciplinary competence network MEHUCO situates so far unconnected concepts of the controversy around AWS in their historical and cultural context, develops an appropriate concept of socio-material agency and focuses on the transfer of scientific results into public discourse. Other universities involved in the competence network are University Bonn, Universit?t Hamburg, Leibniz University Hannover and Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. The competence network is coordinated by Paderborn University.