How armed robot dogs could become weapons of mass destruction

The core technology behind robot dogs is nearly 20 years old. It was in 2005 that Boston Dynamics unveiled its BigDog, a larger quadrupedal robot that was originally intended to act as a sort of mule for troops traversing rough terrain. Although it was ultimately deemed too noisy for practical use, the technology found a smaller, more functional home in its successor robot, Spot, which was unveiled 10 years later and forms the fundamental design for other robots – as well as acting as the point of inspiration for Black mirrorthe writers. Outside of the military, robot dogs are being developed to serve as guide dogs for the blind or for use in search and rescue operations.

Peter W Singer, a member of the US think tank New America and an expert on advanced military technology, believes it is natural for robots to echo shapes found in the natural world. But, he adds, that doesn't make them any less troubling. “This shouldn't be that surprising, because bio-inspired robots take inspiration from the greatest engineer of all, God or evolution, depending on your faith,” Singer says. “However, this adds to the ‘creep’ factor of the machines. There's a concept called the “uncanny valley,” where the more something looks like a living thing but isn't, the more it scares us. Think about your natural reaction to a shiny metallic robot versus a robot that has skin like a mannequin. The model would look more like a human being, but it would also make you more uncomfortable.

Of all their applications, it is the use or testing of robot dogs for military purposes that raises the most eyebrows. Like the British, the Israeli army primarily uses the “Vision 60” model manufactured by Ghost Robotics, a company based in Pennsylvania. Ghost does not use the term “robot dog”, preferring “quadruped unmanned ground vehicle” or QUGV, although he concedes that the device “mimics the way mammals move in a range of natural and urban environments “.

Boston Dynamics has always been wary of the prospect of weaponizing its platforms. Ghost Robotics has taken a more hands-off approach. In October 2021, the company made headlines when it showed off a version of its product that had a gun mounted on it. At the time, Ghost co-founder Jiren Parikh, who died in 2022, said he was relaxed about Vision 60 being armed.

“All we're trying to do is allow them to use our robot in military applications and other government agencies to prevent our people from being harmed,” he said. IEEE Spectruma technology and engineering magazine, adding that “if it's a weapon they have to put on our robot to do their job, we're happy for them to do it.”

Not everyone was convinced, especially when it came to seeing these robots become more and more autonomous thanks to AI. In October 2022, Boston Dynamics wrote a letter, co-signed by five other companies, pledging not to support the weaponization of its products. “We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously piloted, widely accessible to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible places where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical problems,” he said.