Quadrupedal robotic ‘dogs’ have come a long way since Boston Dynamics first unveiled Spot in 2016. The first robo-doggo has since learnt to dance, patrolled factories, received ChatGPT integration, and even made its way to South Africa.
On a slightly more harrowing note, Ghost Robotics has seen its Spot-lookalikes outfitted with all kinds of death-dealing equipment like a great big rifle, rocket launcher, and a bloody flamethrower — much to the ire of Boston Dynamics.
The latest development, according to a report from The Warzone, is that the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is testing robotic dogs from Ghost Robotics (also called quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles, or Q-UGVs), now equipped with an AI-enabled remote weapon system from Onyx Industries.
Release the (heavily-armed robotic) hounds
The Onyx Industries SENTRY remote weapon system in question employs an AI-enabled digital imaging system which automatically detects and tracks people, drones, or vehicles. It relays the info of potential targets back to its human overlord who could be located anywhere in the world. Thankfully, the weapon system still relies on a living person for fire decisions as it can’t decide to fire autonomously… yet.
In an attempt to seemingly dissuade panic, MARSOC said in a statement to The Warzone that testing the heavily-armed robo-dogs is just one of many possible uses under evaluation and that it is still playing by the rules set by the US government’s policies on autonomous weapons.
It should (hopefully) still be a while before we see packs of these things running around. But probably not as long as most people think. Is it just us, or is Black Mirror starting to look more like a documentary than a far-fetched sci-fi show?
