Fueling nightmares across the internet, a video of a robot dog firing an assault rifle has people wondering if Sci-Fi is close to becoming a reality. And many wondering the truth behind the puzzling creation.
Truth Behind the Assault Rifle Carrying Robot Dog
In March, Vice traced the bizarre video back to Alexander Atamanov, the uploader of the high-res video and founder of a Russian hoverbike company. Looking at the robot dog, it isn't clear if it's more than an assault rifle strapped into an existing Unitree dog bot.
The Verge reports that they believe that the robot dog in question belonged to Atamanov. A Facebook post of Atamanov featured a Unitree dog with the name "Atamanov" written on its side.
Likewise, a 2019 video showed the founder plinking away at a range with a gun identical to the mounted assault rifle in the latest video. In February of this year, he also posted a video of himself playing with a similar Unitree bot, holding a coffee cup instead of a rifle.
Investigating his page more closely reveals that Atamanov enjoys recreation with military equipment such as attack helicopters and APCs. Many believe that he strapped together his interests for the nightmare fuel robot dog video.
Unfortunately, despite the assault rifle-carrying bot dog may be a hoax or a toy in this instance, it exists in the real world.
Military-Grade Gun Welding Robot Dog Announced
A video of a fully automatic assault rifle strapped onto a robot dog can send chills down anyone's spine. Unfortunately, despite the viral video's uncertainty, a company announced last year that a robot dog with a gun was built for the task.
US Firm Ghost Robotics announced a quadrupedal robot, Vision 60, equipped with a custom gun by Sword International, small-arms specialists.
The gun, dubbed SPUR, is designed to be fitted onto various robotic platforms. It has a 30x optical zoom, an effective range of 1,200 meters, and a thermal camera for targets lurking at night. Although it is currently unclear whether the gun and robot dog combination is selling, Sword International's website boasts that it will become the future of unmanned weapon systems.
The gun and robot dog combo debuted at the Association of the United States Army's annual conference in 2021.
Details regarding the partnership between Sword and Ghost aren't clear; however, the US military currently tests the quadrupedal robots by Ghost. Previously, the 325th Security Forces Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Florida was the first unit to use quadrupedal robots in its regular operations.
On the other hand, Boston Dynamics, the predominant manufacturer of quadrupedal robots like Spot, has a strict policy against weaponizing its machines. Some manufacturers may not be as strict.
As of now, there is no news on whether assault rifles and other guns will be strapped onto robots for military excursions. Hopefully, nightmare fuels such as the assault-rifle-bearing robot dog won't be part of the future.
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