Cute Dog or Lethal Weapon?

Cute Dog or Lethal Weapon?

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Robot dogs can perform nice tricks, running, climbing stairs, etc. Now, they can also carry weapons. Sword Defense Systems has presented a precision rifle for robot dogs.

The Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle, or SPUR, fits on the back of a robot dog of choice – in this case, the Vision-60 quadruped from Ghost Robotics. It weighs 17 lb (7.7 kg), and packs a Teledyne FLIR Boson thermal camera with a 30X optical zoom, capable of picking out targets in daylight or at night.

The system was specifically designed to offer precision fire from unmanned platforms. The operator can load and safe the weapon at a distance. These features also provide the operator the ability to clear malfunctions, and safely unload the platform prior to recovery. 

The SPUR assembly has a ceramic coating designed to make it harder for night-vision systems to see it.

There’s no indication that this system will be autonomous at this point, although the technology most certainly exists and it would be unsurprising to see this kind of device enter military service as at least a semi-autonomous killing machine at some point, newatlas.com remarks.