A robot dog dressed like a ninja carrying a rocket launcher made the rounds at a Russian military convention this week:
The robot's developers told the Russian state news outlet:
The robot dog can be used for reconnaissance, to carry and deliver medicine, and for passage through smaller and more dangerous areas, including rubble.
When used in combat, the robotic dog can also be engaged in target designation, patrolling and security.
The rocket-launcher dog looks similar to the one in this video firing a gun that went viral earlier this year:
All that said, I have a couple of observations about this rocket-launcher dog:
- Notice how the recoil of the gun in the second video pushed the dog back. Imagine what a rocket launcher would do to the thing. This idea seems impractical (at least for the moment).
- Why is it dressed like a ninja? Does it really need to be that sneaky? Or is it actually a cheap Boston Dynamics knockoff that you can buy off Alibaba for $2,900 and just wearing a disguise to fool the Russian people?
Look you can operate it with your cell phone!
Seriously, this is just dumb.
But if you strap a rocket launcher to one of these guys from Boston Dynamics... now that's a different story...
Until then, when it comes to the Russians, just remember what the Gipper was always fond of saying:
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