The military has been employing more robots and drones to help with combat for some time. Now, their latest team member is Spot, a robotic dog designed by Google owned Boston Dynamics (Google in charge of anything military? Seems wrong). The robot served as a military scout in different simulated combat drills at the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. Over the past week the bot has been put to the test and has proved itself worthy of being part of the crew. Missions Spot participated in included situations in forests, open fields, and urban environments. One scenario found the robot sent into a potentially dangerous building to examine the surrounding before Marines entered. The bot can also peak around corner to search for enemies and offer feedback as to where potential threats are. Spot is also adept at traveling across uneven terrain.
Sounds impressive but how does it work? The 160 pound robot is electric powered and hydraulically actuated. Though it all sounds promising the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) believe Spot won't actually see any real combat, rather is part of an ongoing effort to recognize new roles for robots on the battlefield.
"We see it as a great potential for the future dismounted infantry," said Captain James Pineiro, head of Marine Corps Warfighting Lab at Quantico. "We want to continue to experiment with quadruped technology and find ways that this can be employed to enhance the Marine Corps war-fighting capabilities."
This isn't the first four-legged robot created by Boston Dynamics, yet is smaller version of some of their other designs, such as Big Dog. Previously, the company introduced their humanoid sized robot named Atlas, which can run through actual forests, keep its balance, and can walk on two legs. The company hopes to use the bot to help emergency service work in search and rescue missions by operating equipment where humans couldn't survive in.
While these robots are impressive and will be potentially useful to military services, you gotta admit they still look a little creepy. They may not be the most pretty looking bots, but they are amazing.
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