Dog the Bounty Hunter Airsoft Gun

Quadrupedal robots are ane of the most interesting developments in robotics in contempo years. They're modest, nimble, and able to traverse environments that frustrate wheeled machines. So, of course, it was just a affair of fourth dimension until someone put a gun on one.

The image above shows a quadrupedal robot — a Vision 60 unit congenital by U.s. firm Ghost Robotics — that's been equipped with a custom gun by small-scale-artillery specialists Sword International. It seems the gun itself (dubbed the SPUR or "special purpose unmanned rifle") is designed to be fitted onto a variety of robotic platforms. It has a 30x optical zoom, thermal camera for targeting in the night, and an constructive range of 1,200 meters.

What'south not clear is whether or not Sword International or Ghost Robotics are currently selling this combination of gun and robot. But if they're not, information technology seems they will be shortly. Equally the marketing copy on Sword'due south website boasts: "The SWORD Defense Systems SPUR is the future of unmanned weapon systems, and that time to come is at present."

*The robot base is built past Ghost Robotics, and carries a peculiarly-designed gun congenital by Sword International.*

The automobile was shown off for the starting time time at the Association of the U.s.a. Army'due south 2021 annual conference earlier this week. The conferences bills itself as a "landpower exposition and professional evolution forum" held in Washington DC, Oct 11-13.

Details about the partnership between Ghost and Sword are unclear, just Ghost'south quadrupedal robots are already being tested by the US military. Terminal year, the 325th Security Forces Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida became the showtime unit in the Department of Defense to use quadrupedal robots in regular operations. Information technology uses them to patrol the base of operations'due south perimeter, navigating swampy areas that "aren't desirable for human beings and vehicles," according to an interview with Ghost Robotics CEO Jiren Parikh.

Although reconnaissance is ane of the most obvious use-cases for robot dogs, manufacturers are slowly experimenting with other payloads. As well every bit providing remote video and mapping, the machines could exist used every bit mobile cell towers, to defuse bombs, or to observe chemic, biological, radiological, and nuclear thing (otherwise known as CBRN).

And, of course, they tin become weapons themselves.

*Dissimilar the better-known Boston Dynamics, Ghost Robotics seems eager to find military customers for its quadrupedal machines.*

Boston Dynamics, the all-time-known manufacturer of quadrupedal robots and makers of Spot, has a strict policy agains weaponizing its machines. Other manufacturers, it seems, aren't and so picky. After all, plenty of companies already sell uncrewed gun platforms that use tank treads or wheels, and then calculation the same bones kit to legged machines isn't much of a stretch.

The bigger question is how these robots volition be deployed in the future and what level of oversight volition be required when they start firing lethal rounds at humans.

For a while now, experts have been warning about the slow rise in the employ of "killer robots" (known as lethal autonomous weapon systems, or LAWS, in official jargon), and official The states policy does not prohibit their development or deployment. Many groups are campaigning for a preemptive ban on such systems, just, in the meantime, information technology seems companies will go along to build what is possible. And that ways putting guns on robot dogs.