Robot dogs like Xiaomi’s back-flipping robodog (pictured above) have been wowing us and sending shivers down our spines for years now. We’ve also seen robot dogs equipped with flamethrowers and even attack drones that can scan faces. Now, China has shown off its equally terrifying rifle-toting robot dog in a new video that I wish I’d never seen.
Agence France-Presse previously reported on the gun-carrying dogs, stating that the nation had shown them off during a 15-day joint military exercise in Cambodia called the “Golden Dragon.” This new video, though, shows the dog opening fire on several targets as it hops and dives around the training grounds.
According to reports, that 15-day exercise didn’t showcase the dogs shooting, just them walking around. However, in the video, we get a good look at the rifle-toting robot dogs as they lay down fire and lead teams through the training ground.
Chinese soldiers in the video say that the dogs are meant to serve as new members in the nation’s urban combat operations, allowing them to replace humans during reconnaissance. The dogs are capable of running on their own anywhere from two to four hours. The models used here appear to be Unitree’s Go2 robot dog, according to Futurism.
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China also showed off new aerial drones capable of carrying and shooting machine guns as well. Based on these demonstrations, it seems that China is moving to a more robot-heavy presence on the battlefield, and the reality of rifle-toting robot dogs is just about as terrifying as it sounds on paper.
Of course, the vision of a truly robotic battlefield is still likely a long way from actually happening. Replacing human soldiers with robots is something many expect, though, at the moment, China seems like it is just looking to bolster its troops with the robodogs.