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from the Sit!-Stay!-Aim!-Shoot!-Good(?)-doggie! dept.
Uh Oh, They Strapped a Sniper Rifle to a Robot Dog:
For years, we've been warning that it was only a matter of time — and now, the inevitable has happened.
Somebody strapped an honest-to-god sniper rifle to the back of a quadrupedal robot dog.
An image shared on Twitter by military robot maker Ghost Robotics shows the terrifying contraption in all its dystopian glory.
Latest lethality 6.5 #creedmoor sniper payload from @SWORDINT. Check out the latest partner payloads @AUSAorg Wash DC. Keeping US and allied #sof #warfighter equipped with the latest innovations. @USSOCOM #defense #defence #NationalSecurity #drone #robotics pic.twitter.com/Dvk6OvL3Bu
— Ghost Robotics (@Ghost_Robotics) October 11, 2021
[...] There's a lot we don't know about the machine, but according to an Instagram post by Sword International, a gun manufacturer, the machine is called the SPUR or Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle.
More at the Sword's website [Ed Comment: Link is sometimes giving 404 since this story was released--JR].
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 14 2021, @04:41AM (10 children)
And probably because he realized robot murder just fell economically within the budget of the Soylentil population.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @07:16AM (3 children)
The obvious rebuttal is, killing is a good thing for Republicans. Killing terrorists. Killing Iranian Generals. Killing immigrants. Killing women, like Gabby. Killing infrastructure funding. Killing Mike Pence. Killing people of color that get in the way of your bullets. Killing khallow. Seems like a waste of lead, or a good rope, or some Strychnine we could have used for a coyote death trap.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 14 2021, @01:50PM (2 children)
Because infrastructure is an unalloyed good, right? Build that bridge [wikipedia.org], no matter where it goes.
Islands with 50 people need their $400 million bridges too! Terrible Republicans killing that infrastructure!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 14 2021, @02:09PM (1 child)
Islands with 50 people need their US Postal service too!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @04:05PM
Stop eating lead paint chips.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @11:42AM (5 children)
It's been a legitimate concern with RC vehicles and drones for years, any idiot could rig them with explosives and remote detonators. Unfortunately, it's no longer a matter of "if" but "when?".
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday October 14 2021, @02:00PM (3 children)
Recoil is probably a problem limiting the device/weapon combinations that would be useful. But yes.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:20PM
Recoil would indeed limit the weapons that such a platform could practically fire (more than once), but not the size nor power of the projectiles fired. Recoil-less weapons can fire some impressively large and destructive shells.
Of course, the unsuspecting public would never know if/when half the fuel cell has been replaced with C4... sure, you can only use it once, but if it can get close enough to a high value target? And if "officer friendly" dogs regularly patrol all the time...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday October 15 2021, @11:49AM (1 child)
Or if you want something with even greater effect, try something like an inertial mass damper, but of course that would reduce the mobility of the bot due to the extra weight. Real world big guns have already solved this problem, there's no reason such technology can't be shrunk, it's just that previously there was little need for it to be shrunk. Of course, the bot itself is an intertial mass, and its legs can act as dampers, there's no reason for the bot itself to not have a "prepare to fire" stance and post-firing recovery programmed into it. If we're making these things smart, why stop at just stair climing and door opening?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2, Disagree) by HiThere on Friday October 15 2021, @01:59PM
But what you're postulating is a highly modified "robot dog", to the extent that it's actually a mini-tank. (And I don't believe the intelligence controlling it resides if the vehicle...this has both significant effects, but among other things to me it means that calling it a robot is incorrect. But we do need a better name than "telefactor".
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 14 2021, @03:42PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves