Robot war dog with rifle prompts AI weaponisation fears
A robot dog armed with a sniper rifle capable of hitting targets from 3,940 feet away was criticised as 'terrifying', 'dystopian', and a 'nightmare'. Manufactured by Ghost Robotics and arms manufacturer SWORD International and unveiled at a US Army trade show , the 'Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle' (SPUR) is a "robot dog" equipped with a 6.5mm Creedmoor sniper rifle. Marketed as a remote-controlled system and featuring a 30x optical zoom, thermal imaging, a ceramic coating designed to make it harder for night-vision systems to detect, and AI-powered target detection and tracking , SPUR can be remotely instructed to load, unload, and fire, and is capable of hitting targets from 3,940 feet (1,200 meters). Critics cited the psychological "distance" such a system creates for the operator, potentially lowering the threshold for lethal engagement and paving the way for fully autonomous "slaughterbots" that can make life-and-death decisions without a human in the loop. System 🤖 Ghost Robotics Vision60 🔗 Sword Defence Systems SPUR 🔗 Developer: Ghost Robotics , Sword International Country: USA Sector: Aerospace/defence Purpose: Kill/main adversaries Technology : Computer vision; Robotics; Machine learning Issue: Autonomous weapons
- Date it happened
- 2021-10-01
- Organisation involved
- Ghost Robotics
- Product, system or model
- Ghost Robotics Vision 60
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