THE FIRST ROBOT DOG ARMED WITH AN ASSAULT RIFLE WAS UNVEILED

 When fiction meets reality, it gives birth to armed robot dogs reminiscent of an episode of the Netflix series, "Black Mirror". In any case, this is a preview of this new model that was presented at the US Army show last Tuesday in Washington.

Called the “Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle” (SPUR) by its creator Ghost Robotics, an American company specializing in robotics, this robot dog is equipped with a 6.5 mm sniper rifle, capable of shooting targets with precision. going up to a distance of more than 1.2km.

To bring this project to fruition, Ghost Robotics teamed up with arms manufacturer Sword International, which specializes in light weapons. This allows SPUR to be remotely instructed to load, unload and fire its rifle while allowing the operator to stay safe. Which makes him the improved version of the Vision-60 quadruped, which is none other than the previous creation of the robotics company.

In addition, as the weapons manufacturer's website specifies, this robot dog "can also use a 7.62x51 mm NATO cartridge", which is a rifle ammunition developed in the 1950s for the weapons of the countries of the United States. NATO, and therefore still used by US forces.

SPUR is proving to be a frightening war machine, since its high-performance sensors allow it to operate in different conditions, "day and night", also specifies Sword International.

THIS INVENTION CAUSES CONTROVERSY

Regarding the purchase price of this robot dog, nothing has yet been advanced by its creators, but on the other hand it already raises moral questions. Featured on Twitter, many users did not hesitate to voice their concerns about this technological breakthrough.

UNSW Sydney Artificial Intelligence Professor Toby Walsh warns a Futurism reporter that "this crosses a moral, legal and technical line, and brings us into a very dark and dangerous world."

It must be admitted, however, that observing the arming of new and upcoming robots seems inevitable, especially since there is no ban on this practice to date.

Moreover, as reported by the Journal Du Geek, Michael Horowitz, who is a lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania and both an expert in autonomous weapons systems, explains that this type of device is no more different. of a drone or a ground weapon, which one already finds on the ground. "This product does not raise any more ethical debate than there was already on this question," he said.