https://sputnikglobe.com/20231020/us-marines-test-fire-rocket-launcher-attached-to-robot-dog-available-on-aliexpress-1114351254.html
US Marines Test Fire Rocket Launcher Attached to Robot Dog Available on Alibaba
US Marines Test Fire Rocket Launcher Attached to Robot Dog Available on Alibaba
Sputnik International
The idea of using robots for military and policing purposes has been around since at least the Mechanical Hound in Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. But while the future may seem terrifying, it also appears to be cheaper than expected – making it somehow even more chilling.
2023-10-20T11:16+0000
2023-10-20T11:16+0000
2023-10-20T12:39+0000
military
china
marines
office of naval research (onr)
boston dynamics
russia
robot
killer robot
rocket launcher
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The US military has test-fired an M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW) launcher attached to a robotic dog, and filmed the whole thing.A Marine unit attached to the Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group, Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Command together with scientists from the Office of Naval Research conducted the testing at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California back in September.Footage shows the characteristically creepy-looking Boston Dynamics-style remote-operated robotic dog powering on, moving around, and standing up to "beg" as Marines and engineers discuss its capabilities. Off screen, engineers attached an M72 to the dog’s back via a special adaptor kit, with the piece of equipment then placed in a U-shaped sandbag formation on the range, and the M72 firing off a reloadable 21 mm trainer rocket.The robot dog, dubbed a “goat” by the Marines for some reason, looks similar to a machinegun-toting robot dog shown off by a Chinese defense contractor over a year ago.And that’s no accident.The Marine-tested robotic Fido in the footage is clearly a Go1 Pro search and rescue quadruped available on Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba for just $3,500 apiece (for comparison, Boston Dynamics’ famous Spot went on sale in 2020 with an eye-watering price tag of $74,500 – more than 21 times as much). The Go1 Pro was created by Chinese tech company Unitree Robotics, which describes itself as a “global quadruped robots pioneer.”However, while the Marines’ LAW-equipped Fido got a measure of praise in US media as a “good sense” design potentially useful in "close quarters urban environments," Western media’s appraisal of the Russian robotic dog design, which was demonstrated over a year earlier, was nowhere near as generous, with the latter dismissed as a “fake” and possibly even a sign of China dastardly evading sanctions on arms exports.Turns out when it’s the US doing it, it’s no longer a problem.
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robot dog, united states, marines, russia, china, price, budget
robot dog, united states, marines, russia, china, price, budget
US Marines Test Fire Rocket Launcher Attached to Robot Dog Available on Alibaba
11:16 GMT 20.10.2023 (Updated: 12:39 GMT 20.10.2023) The idea of using robots for military and policing purposes has been around since at least the Mechanical Hound in Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. But while the future may seem terrifying, it also appears to be cheaper than expected – somehow making it even more chilling.
The US military has test-fired an M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW) launcher attached to a robotic dog, and filmed the whole thing.
A Marine unit attached to the Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group, Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Command together with scientists from the Office of Naval Research conducted the testing at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California back in September.
Footage shows the characteristically creepy-looking Boston Dynamics-style remote-operated robotic dog powering on, moving around, and standing up to "beg" as Marines and engineers discuss its capabilities. Off screen, engineers attached an M72 to the dog’s back via a special adaptor kit, with the piece of equipment then placed in a U-shaped sandbag formation on the range, and the M72 firing off a reloadable 21 mm trainer rocket.
The robot dog, dubbed a “goat” by the Marines for some reason, looks similar to a machinegun-toting
robot dog shown off by a Chinese defense contractor over a year ago.
The Marine-tested robotic Fido in the footage is clearly a Go1 Pro search and rescue quadruped available on Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba for just
$3,500 apiece (for comparison, Boston Dynamics’ famous Spot went on sale in 2020 with an eye-watering price tag of
$74,500 – more than 21 times as much). The Go1 Pro was created by Chinese tech company Unitree Robotics, which
describes itself as a “global quadruped robots pioneer.”
And the irony of the story goes further. Last year, at Russia’s ARMY-2022 military expo, a Russian company known as Intellect Machine showed off a robot dog design known as the M81, dressed up in black ninja garb and toting an RPG-26 rocket launcher. The design was based on the very same Go1 Pro by Unitree.
However, while the Marines’ LAW-equipped Fido got a measure of praise in US media as a
“good sense” design potentially useful in "close quarters urban environments," Western media’s appraisal of the Russian robotic dog design, which was
demonstrated over a year earlier, was nowhere near as generous, with the latter dismissed as a
“fake” and
possibly even a sign of China dastardly evading sanctions on arms exports.
Turns out when it’s the US doing it, it’s no longer a problem.
