Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Robot Dogs Now Have Sniper Rifles For Heads—And This Certainly Can't End Well

Robot Dogs Now Have Sniper Rifles For Heads—And This Certainly Can't End Well
Ghost Robotics/Twitter

In what looks like a callback to the Black Mirror episode "Metalhead," a robot dog armed with a sniper rifle was unveiled this week in Washington, D.C. at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army.

The robot, developed by Ghost Robotics of Philadelphia, is the latest version of its Vision series of legged robots.



The robot is state of the art, carrying a SWORD Defense Systems Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle (SPUR), which also has day and night cameras and an effective range of 1200 meters.

In an Instagram post, SWORD International referred to the robot dog as "Warfighters [sic] best friend."

But these are not Ghost Robotics's first rodeo. The company has been developing quadruped robots since 2015. Prior versions included arms for bomb disposal and even a disrupter, which can disable bombs.

On its website, the company says its quadruped robots are "agile, durable, continuous-use" and "unstoppable."

"Quadrupedal Unmanned Ground Vehicles, or Q-UGV for short, are no longer relegated to university lab projects."
"They have a place in a broad range of government and enterprise applications where mobile robots with four legs have inherent advantages over wheels, tracks and even bipedal systems."
"Our Q-UGVs not only manage unstructured terrain well but are built for demanding customers in demanding environments."
"Our robots are faster, more durable, have greater endurance, simpler to integrate, and far easier to support versus our competitors."
"They're unstoppable, with the ability to get right back up from any slip, fall, or failure and keep moving using our proprietary blind-mode operation."
"They have to because we design and build robots to keep humans and K9s out of harm's way."

An unarmed version of these robots is even being used by the U.S. Air Force as perimeter security at the Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

The Air Force announced the initiative in a May press release.

""People see these robots out walking around and they think this is a fieldable capability, but there is still a lot of development, testing and evaluation that still needs to be done."
"Having them just walk around is not what we're after."
"We want them to patrol the base using their integrated sensors to provide our forces in the base security operations center with useful, mission-critical data."

The average person, however, seems less than enthused judging from social media reactions likening the robot to dystopian fiction come to life.




Ghost Robotics CEO Jiren Parikh has dismissed suggestions the sniper rifle characteristic of this robot is an autonomous weapon system, telling New Scientist it "is fully controlled by a remote operator," neither autonomous nor aritificial intelligence.

According to Pentagon policy, all robotic weapons must be under the control of a human operator.

More from Trending

Barack Obama
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Obama Offers Iconic Reaction After He Accidentally Photobombed A Family's Photos In DC

If you try to take nice pictures in a scenic location, there will likely be people wandering through the background of your photos, because everyone else will also be enjoying the scenery.

In most cases, people try to time the shots between passersby or edit them out afterwards, but after a photoshoot in Washington D.C., one family will definitely not be editing out the accidental guest walking among the cherry blossoms and the Washington Monument.

Keep ReadingShow less
children sitting on floor in classroom
CDC on Unsplash

Historical 'Facts' People Learned In School That Are Actually Not True

The phrase "history is written by the victors" is a common saying. It's often attributed to Winston Churchill, although there's no proof he said those exact words.

It points out that those who win conflicts shape how those events are remembered, recorded, and taught to future generations, leading to biased historical accounts and warped perceptions.

Keep ReadingShow less

Modern 'Conveniences' That Actually Make Life Harder

Making life simpler...

That is always the goal, right?

Keep ReadingShow less
Person holding cigarette
Luiz Rogério Nunes/Unsplash

One Night Stands That Turned Into A Total Nightmare

Ahh, the trials and tribulations of dating life.

On the one hand, it could be exciting and very promising. On the other hand, it could be a total disaster.

Keep ReadingShow less
Person's eyes glowing in the sunlight
Photo by Marina Vitale on Unsplash

People Who Clinically Died And Came Back To Life Share Their Experiences

We've all heard the questions about what happens when we die, whether there is life after death, and whether we really will walk through a tunnel of white light or not to get there.

But people who have had a near-death experience, in that they were declared clinically dead and were then resuscitated, might have the answers we're looking for, and their answers are quite peaceful.

Keep ReadingShow less