Marines with the Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group recently conducted a proof-of-concept test of a quadruped robot firing an M72 rocket launcher, according to a Marine Corps news release. Last year a St Petersburg company offered a rocket-armed robot dog to the Russian military; this appears to be based on the same robot used by the Marines which is a type made in China.
The demonstration, carried out at a firing range at Twentynine Palms in California, was focused on the Kairos remote trigger mechanism rather than the robot. This offers a safe, reliable means to fire a weapon from a distance. The robot dog (which the Marines call a ‘robotic goat’) was simply a convenient platform used to test different tactical ways of using the trigger, and appears to have been purchased as an off-the-shelf commercial item.
This is the latest of many efforts to weaponize robot dogs. These have ranged from demonstrations like the polemical Spot’s Rampage – an art installation with a paintball gun to highlight the risks of armed robots – and the lighthearted I Did A Thing video on YouTube of a home-made rifle robot to more serious efforts. These include a Ghost Robotics quadruped with a 6.5mm rifle pod from Sword Defense , reportedly able to hit human-sized targets from several hundred meters.
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