Now we have good and dangerous information about that video of the robotic canine firing a gun

You noticed the nightmare gasoline tank currently circulating across the web – the video through which a robotic canine fires an assault rifle? I’ve good and dangerous information.

The excellent news: it is in all probability only a harmful toy woven by a kind of Russian hoverbike start-up.

Vice He watched the video to the founding father of a Russian hoverbike firm named Alexander Atamanov, who uploaded each the video and a high-resolution picture of the robot-dog-gun in March. Trying on the muzzle itself, it isn’t clear that it’s something greater than a weapon connected to an present Unitree canine robotic. (It isn’t clear if the muzzle is definitely aiming or firing the gun itself.) Taking a look at his greater story on Fb, it seems like he merely put collectively a number of issues he favored a couple of new toy.

Picture by way of Fb

Why do I feel so? To begin with, it is clearly his: by taking an in depth take a look at the high-resolution picture on Fb, you’ll be able to see that the muzzle has a definite patch with a white wolf on its facet – and above, a phrase. The phrase is his household identify: “Atamanov”.

Picture by way of Fb

Additionally in 2019, the founding father of Hoversurf posted a video of him strolling across the vary with a gun that appears nearly similar to the one mounted on the muzzle – and with precisely the identical patch on his shoulder. And in February 2022, a month earlier than posting the dog-bot video, he additionally posted an image of himself enjoying with what seems to be the identical Unitree robotic, holding solely a cup of espresso as a substitute of a gun.

Going additional by way of his Fb web page, evidently he additionally likes to play with navy gear equivalent to APCs and assault helicopters. If you happen to add how impractical this particular weapon-dog mixture appears – all these robots are programmed to carry out all kinds of balanced actions naturally and but it would not appear to compensate for the fundamental recoil – it appears extra more likely to have slapped a two of his pursuits collectively and fewer more likely to severely use a weapon of struggle.

Picture by way of Fb

Then once more, one of many rivals of this kind within the flying area occurs to be Kalashnikov, the corporate behind AK-47 …

Atamanov didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The dangerous information: a robotic canine with a gun is one thing that already exists.

I perceive if a video of a canine firing a totally computerized weapon sends a shiver down your backbone. Nonetheless, a greater time to begin worrying would have been October final yr, when an organization truly introduced a robotic canine with a weapon constructed particularly for this activity.

Picture: Sword Worldwide

One other potential second: when it was revealed in September final yr that Iran’s most essential nuclear scientist was assassinated by a killer robotic that was remotely managed by a sniper over 1,00zero miles away.

Or in April final yr, when the French navy started testing the Boston Dynamics Spot robotic canine in fight eventualities, with no apparent weapons mounted on the canines.

Or at any time when I noticed little robots free canine legs – equivalent to, say, small drones – are geared up with weapons. Persons are progressively realizing that know-how actually already exists to show robots into lethal weapons, and the actually scary thought is that they might begin killing autonomously in the event that they have not already. It appears nearly inevitable at this level, canine or not.

However, I admit, there’s something notably unlucky in the truth that man’s finest buddy can flip towards us. Black mirror I explored this concept brilliantly nearly 5 years in the past and each time we see a robodog buying a brand new ability, equivalent to opening a door, it is onerous for me to not think about what horror movie could possibly be like.