Russia has demonstrated a robot dog equipped with an anti-tank rocket launcher. While such a creation has plenty of terrifying, Black Mirror-style possibilities, it looks to be little more than a $2,700 machine available from Alibaba, holding an RPG that may or may not be able to fire very efficiently and costumed as a dog-ninja for some reason.
President Vladimir Putin launched Russia's "Army 2022" armaments exhibition, which will be held at the Patriot Park in Kubinka, just outside Moscow, until August 22.
Russia's M-81 Robot Dog Similar To Product in Alibaba Store
The M-81, a canine-like quadrupedal robot resembling Boston Dynamics' famed Spot except it carries an RPG-26 on its back and is clothed in a ninja-yoroi, was among the various military weaponry, vehicles, and other accouterments on display.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of the M-81 scurrying around and sleeping down at the exhibition, which would have been adorable if it hadn't been carrying a weapon of mass devastation.
While the description appears to be moderately worrying, The Drive did some investigating and discovered that the dog resembles Unitree Robotics' UnitreeYushuTechnologyDog, which is available from the Chinese marketplace Alibaba for as low as $2,700.
That explains why it's dressed like a ninja: to conceal its origins rather than to frighten/confuse foes or lull them into a false feeling of security. Spot, on the other hand, is approximately $75,000 in price.
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) August 15, 2022
There's also the issue of how skillfully the robot uses the weapon. It may be able to transport the RPG-26 anti-tank rocket launcher, but whether it can aim or withstand the shock of firing is debatable, considering the relatively short recoil.
Unitree's robot dogs appear to be popular for this purpose. Last month, Russian-born inventor Alexander Atamanov demonstrated one with a submachine pistol mounted to its back.
US Robot Dogs
Another robot dog with a Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle was on display last October during the Association of the United States Army's main annual meeting in Washington, DC. The United States Space Force is testing 'robot dogs' to monitor the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The $150,000 four-legged bots may be outfitted with a range of optical and auditory sensors, allowing them to act as the base's eyes and ears.
According to a statement from the Department of Defense, they are being deployed for patrols to save considerable man hours. During the two-day test last month, Space Launch Delta 45, the unit in charge of all space launch operations from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, deployed at least two Vision 60 unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGVs), or 'robot dogs.'
Ghost Robotics created the robots, which may be operated independently or by a human controller. They can also transport antennas, allowing them to easily extend networks beyond current infrastructure or to regions where such equipment does not exist. The US Air Force has already tested the dog-like robots for perimeter protection operations. Aside from military applications, the devices might also be used in emergency circumstances and industrial site inspections, according to Daily Mail.
And, unlike humans, the weather has no meaning for the robots. They can function in temperatures ranging from -40 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be completely immersed in water for 30 minutes and still work. Users may operate the robots using special tablet computers equipped with joysticks, or they can be programmed to do monotonous activities such as patrolling the perimeter of a facility. The robots have a peak speed of roughly seven mph, comparable to that of a leisure runner.
Robot dogs are having a bit of a moment right now. Spot, a Boston Dynamics robot dog, is a YouTube celebrity whose videos have been viewed millions of times and who was covered in The Washington Post last year. In a particularly memorable episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror, murderous robot canines hunted out the last humans in a post-apocalyptic world, Florida Today via MSN reported.
