User blog comment:Zathronas/Analysis by an author: Volume 2 episode 11: No brakes/@comment-78.42.186.25-20141024022917/@comment-3387274-20141024225541

while we're on the subject, I think Aura is definately the "human touch" Ironwood admits his army is lacking, and without it his machines can never hope to match up to proper huntsmen or aura users. In short, he's trying to find a compromise between not risking soldiers and not being left with a canon fodder army. The Paladin was one attempt at this, and Penny is intended to be the next.