cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15911898
China has showcased robot dogs capable of firing machine guns in the latest display of its military prowess.
The remote-controlled robots were unveiled during a military training exercise conducted by China and Cambodia earlier this month.
According to a video shared by state broadcaster CCTV, the battery-operated robodogs can function independently for between two and four hours and are capable of moving forward and backward, lying down, and jumping.
They can also plan routes, approach targets, and avoid obstacles, the video said. One of the robots shown in the video was fitted with a rifle to shoot targets, according to CCTV.
Chen Wei, a Chinese soldier, told CCTV that the robot dogs will “serve as a new member in urban combat operations” and can replace the role of human soldiers in identifying and striking targets.
Why would you ever use this when you could instead have a cluster of suicide quadcopters with grenades for the same price? It has almost all of the vulnerabilities and few of the benefits.
My first thought too. I guess drones aren’t stable enough platforms for machine gun fire, and they want something that’s reusable? Still not sold on this thing.
Do they have a separate robotic reloading dog?
I imagine you’d need a big drone to compensate for the recoil and if you can use a smaller one for drooping bombs or firing missiles it might not seem worth it. I think the key is this is aimed at urban warfare and, as the Iraq War demonstrated, going house-to-house is one of the more dangerous aspects of that. Unarmed drones are already checking rooms to save soldier’s lives and the next step is to give one a gun to shoot anyone it can find. What could possibly go wrong?
I dunno, hearing “ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ” and seeing drones coming isn’t as scary as seeing something running at you on all fours with a gun as it’s face.
You might not want to detonate a grenade where your target is. This definitely wouldn’t be a method for fighting regular infantry. I think it might see more use in police actions.
Now I’m envisioning the same robot dog with a taser, which might be feasible.
After watching the video I’m still not clear on whether the gun can be rotated independently. It kind of looks like it only points and fires in the direction the machine is facing.
Basically I think almost anybody could jump to the side and avoid the line of fire before the operator could manage to line up a shot. This thing doesn’t turn particularly fast. I think actually hitting someone with a taser dart would be nearly impossible.
Now the US cops won’t even have to get off their car to shoot at black people