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Militaries are turning to armed robot dogs

Jun 17, 2024, 9:54am EDT
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The News

The Chinese and US militaries are experimenting with robot “dogs” to work alongside infantry.

A state-run Chinese news agency released footage of a quadrupedal robot armed with an assault rifle being used in urban-combat training scenarios.

Earlier videos showed similar dogbots being dropped from drones or launching smoke grenades and other munitions: Chinese researchers claimed one has marksmanship as good as top human sharpshooters.

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Meanwhile, the Pentagon has also outfitted experimental robots with rifles and anti-tank weapons.

Semi-autonomous dogs are already used in base security and other non-combat applications, but “robotics companies have had an eye on weaponization” for some time, WIRED reported.

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