The U.S. Army wants to weaponize robot dogs by integrating machine guns, as well as giving them AI capabilities. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, saying that the defense branch wants to experiment with its next-generation guns by mounting them on unmanned robotic dogs.
US Army to Weaponize Robot Dogs by Mounting Rifles, LMGs
This photograph shows Boston Dynamics' SPOT robot dog on the opening day of the MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona on February 28, 2022. - The world's biggest mobile fair is held from February 28 to March 3, 2022.
According to The First Post's latest report, the U.S. Army wants to weaponize robot dogs so that they can be used in areas with heavy gunfires.
The military branch added that these war machines will be remotely controlled by operators; helping them navigate and find their targets.
But, the machines will still be the ones to decide the action they'll take against these targets. The latest effort of the U.S. Army is quite simple.
All it wants is to mount advanced guns—specifically assault rifles and LMGs—onto its robot dogs and make them autonomous using artificial intelligence so that these machines can conduct military tasks in unspecified battlefield scenarios.
"The unique capability of the dog is the ability to traverse different types of terrain that wheeled vehicles may not be able to go," said Bhavanjot Singh, the U.S. Army DEVCOM's senior scientific technical manager via Interesting Engineering.
Read Also: Ground Drones May Revolutionize Military Technology in Ukraine
Autonomous Robot Dogs are Just the Start
A prototype of a robot guard dog "T7S Type 1" was unveiled by Japan's Sanyo Electric Company on March 27, 2002, at ROBODEX 2002 in Yokohama, Japan. The four-legged robot, jointly developed with Tmsuk Co, a Japanese robot research firm, can link to their masters'' mobile phones.
The mentioned AI-powered weaponized robotic dogs mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg.
Aside from these war machines, The Conversation reported that the U.S. military plans to use thousands of autonomous war robots in the upcoming years.
The United States will use these unmanned weapons systems and machines to counter China's growing military power.
This was explained by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. The autonomous warfare machines that the military will try to acquire are a part of the Replicator Initiative.
Experts said that this new defense program will help the United States develop and build thousands of autonomous war systems.
They added that the Replicator Initiative will help the U.S. military win major wars in the future. If you want to learn more about the autonomous robot buildup in the United States, you can click this link.
Related Article: US Air Force to Build Thousands of AI-Powered Valkyrie Jets! Multibillion-Dollar Budget Now Requested
