We’ve got good and unhealthy information about that video of the robotic canine firing a gun

Have you ever seen the tank of nightmare gasoline currently circulating across the web — the video the place a robotic canine fires an assault rifle? I’ve obtained good and unhealthy information.

The excellent news: It’s most likely only a harmful toy cobbled collectively by a Russian hoverbike startup man.

Vice traced the video again to a Russian hoverbike firm founder named Alexander Atamanov, who uploaded each the video and a high-res picture of the gun-dog-bot in March. Taking a look at each the bot itself, it’s not clear it’s something greater than a gun strapped to an current Unitree dogbot. (It’s not clear if the bot even goals or fires the gun itself.) Taking a look at his bigger Fb historical past, it appears probably that he merely slapped collectively a few issues he favored into a brand new toy.

Why do I believe so? First, it’s clearly his: taking a detailed have a look at the high-res picture from Fb, you’ll be able to see the bot has a definite patch that includes a white wolf on its aspect — and above that, a phrase. The phrase is his final title: “Atamanov.”

Picture through Fb

Additionally, in 2019, the Hoversurf founder posted a video of himself plinking away on the vary with a gun that appears almost similar to the one mounted on the bot — and with the very same patch on his shoulder. And in February 2022, a month earlier than he posted the dog-bot video, he additionally posted an image of himself taking part in with what seems to be the identical Unitree robotic, solely holding a espresso cup as a substitute of a gun.

Scrolling additional by means of his Fb web page, he appears to take pleasure in taking part in with army gear like APCs and assault helicopters, too. In the event you add how impractical this explicit gun-dog mixture appears — these sorts of robots are programmed to naturally carry out all types of balanced motions and but this one doesn’t appear to be compensating for primary recoil — it appears way more probably he slapped a few his pursuits collectively, and fewer probably he’s critically purusing a weapon of warfare.

Picture through Fb

Then once more, one in every of this man’s rivals within the flying rideable house occurs to be Kalashnikov, the corporate behind the AK-47…

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

The unhealthy information: A robotic canine with a gun is a factor that already exists.

I perceive if a video of a canine firing a completely automated weapon sends a chill down your backbone. Nonetheless, a greater second to start worrying may need been final October, when an organization truly introduced a robotic canine with a gun that’s purpose-built for the duty.

Picture: Sword Worldwide

One other potential second: when it was revealed final September that Iran’s prime nuclear scientist was assassinated by a killer robotic that was distant managed by a sniper over 1,000 miles away.

Or final April, when the French military began testing Boston Dynamics’ robotic canine Spot in fight eventualities, admittedly with none apparent dog-mounted weaponry.

Or any of the instances we’ve seen small robots with out canine legs — like, say, small drones — get outfitted with weaponry. The world’s step by step coming to the conclusion that the expertise actually does exist already to show robots into lethal weapons, and the actually scary thought is that they may start killing autonomously, in the event that they haven’t already begun. It appears nearly inevitable at this level, canine or no.

However there’s something significantly dastardly about man’s finest buddy doubtlessly turning on us, I admit. Black Mirror explored that concept brilliantly nearly 5 years in the past, and each time we see a robodog getting a brand new means like opening a door, it’s onerous for me to not think about how the horror film may play out.