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Hey Skynet never had doggies. This is disconcerting.
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/11/25/boston-dynamics-robot-dog-massachusetts-state-police

I don't see what people are concerned about? I assume there's somebody controlling it. It would only be worrying if it was AI controlled.

Besides privacy issues, the concern that they could be armed in the future.

Its effectively a killbot that just hasn't been given its claws/guns yet.

Eh its just a more advanced robot than we've had before. We've had robots in the armed and police forces for years - most were simply remote controlled crawlers and such.

This is getting news because its on four legs and is made by Boston Dynamics. In theory it should be able to access areas that regular tracked vehicles can't so easily access (however there are some really amazing designs for them to traverse up stairs and such).


Two things I'd say are a weakness for it are its high body profile (a crawler can be much lower to the ground for the core body) and noise.




Alongside Drones its all still human controlled; we are still a very long way off AI taking over. Though getting closer each day. However most of the AI we get today is still in the form of it controlling the overall stability and guidance whilst a human provides the directive and such for the machine to follow.

Arming drones with weapons can certainly happen and it likely will; esp as we've moved toward a society that puts a very high value on the life of our working forces. The higher we put that tag the more practical robotical machines become in dangerous situations where the risk to human life is considered too great.

Heck there are already armed drones out there in the world. Mostly armed with anti-drone weapons in an attempt to stop the use of drones for illegal activities (drug smuggling)

Frazz we know you are only interested due to the potential for robot weiner dogs.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Frazz we know you are only interested due to the potential for robot weiner dogs.

Resistance is futile. All your treats are belong to us!

robots are already armed.. they've been flying over warzones for years. a couple of years ago American police used an RCV with explosives to take out an encamped shooter. robots being armed isn't a problem, so long as theres an operator, with appropriate training, and aware of ROE etc.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
robots are already armed.. they've been flying over warzones for years. a couple of years ago American police used an RCV with explosives to take out an encamped shooter. robots being armed isn't a problem, so long as theres an operator, with appropriate training, and aware of ROE etc.

Right, so... it is a problem, as the appropriate police training and awareness seems lacking even without the limitations of a pilot camera's view of things.

So then you have a problem with the standard of police training, which is a seperate issue to the legality/morality of using remote weapons.

Obviously I don't know you, but I'll assume you have no experience using remotely operated vehicles or the training required to operate them.

i want one!

Paw Patrol did it better tbh.