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t1_jarkasj wrote

Do these robot dogs clean dishes and fold clothes? Cause I gotta need for one of those taking over my home chores… who cares about autonomous cars! I want a dog that does my laundry and dishes!!!

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t1_jarkg8q wrote

I can see various uses for them like checking suspected IEDs or roughly clearing a building to make sure there’s no surprises. But i think it would still be a while before any kind of lethal weapons are mounted or used on them

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t1_jarlyl1 wrote

Instead of a robot dog, wouldn’t it be better to design a robot bear, or a robot wolverine?

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t1_jarmhs2 wrote

You know what’s cheaper than a robot dog? A dog.

You know what’s cheaper than a big robot dog meant for carrying things? A donkey.

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t1_jarmybq wrote

How long until we see these cute little guys working in airports and at events as indoctrination and then every single day as an armed police force?

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t1_jarnn42 wrote

A Robot cat would never work for The Man, just sayin’.

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t1_jarnnky wrote

Replying to ProfessionalMeal2407 (#2,152,083)

Sorta. Dogs, and donkeys, need water, food, and shelter pretty frequently. A robot will need maintenance but the depth and frequency will not be frequent (or at least can be designed to not be frequent). Also, if your dog breaks their leg there is a considerable amount of time for the dog to heal. A robots leg could be made to be replaceable in a matter of minutes.

The upfront cost of a dog (or donkey) is considerably low compared to a robot but at a point in the not-too-distant future, the accumulated cost for a robot would be less.

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t1_jaroif8 wrote

Replying to Rainbow-Death (#2,152,037)

A cat. Meow that isn’t funny. Get it. Cat or pu… I mean you get and so do I. I had one of those but these modern ladies. I honestly think the push of women working is a big plunder of our society. There is nothing wrong with making a house a home for kids and pets and a family to thrive but instead we all think we need to work and earn money and chase an American dream

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t1_jarowgj wrote

Replying to Atomsteel (#2,152,114)

If we’re lucky, soon. Cause we already have an armed police force present pretty much everywhere, and they have regularly demonstrated that you can never be sure when interacting with one if you are in danger or not. At least with bots you can actually see what it was thinking when it opens fire on someone, rather than “I smelled pot in the air”, “I thought they were reaching for a gun”, etc.

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t1_jarsgrj wrote

Replying to Annual-Cheesecake374 (#2,152,157)

A stock Boston Dynamics Spot robot has a runtime of 90 minutes. Of course the battery can be swapped out, but in a standard work day that would be six enormous batteries. For the sake of argument let's say that the military model has two batteries to run at the same time. That's a minimum of three battery swaps a day and someone who has to carry all of those around. News flash, the operators also need food and water and are going to have that on them anyway. A donkey can also eat and drink pretty much anywhere in the world that's not covered in snow or sand.

Edit: each Spot battery is 5.2kg/~11.5lbs. With two batteries on the robot and four in reserve, that's 20.8kg/46lbs of weight to support a robot that can only carry a 14kg/30lb payload to begin with. Each battery is also the size of a mid-range quadcopter, meaning that someone's job on the team is just dealing with the drone and carrying its luggage. All for a drone that can't smell, can barely hear, and can barely carry anything. Might be able to provide early warning if it happens to spot someone using FLIR from two feet off the ground. Maybe. This is just one tiny slice of the taxpayer's pie being served up to the military industrial complex on a newer, shinier platter with nothing but prop pieces to show for it.

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t1_jart9ju wrote

Anyone Remember «Big Dog» ?

Boston Dynamics had this large quadruped robot like 10 years ago that they abruptly stopped showing videos of. I wonder why.

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t1_jarv8sq wrote

As a huge fan of real dogs, I support this.

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t1_jas0kzh wrote

Replying to ergobearsgo (#2,152,355)

I agree with you about the Boston dynamics robot but that doesn’t mean all robots in the future would be under the same restrictions. Though, we do use robots to conduct bomb detection and disposal meaning robots don’t have to be on (or maybe reduced power requirements) until they are needed. This robot, however, is (nearly) useless to the military.

Another thing to consider is training. We can train animals to do lots of pretty cool things but a robot would be easier to train and be more accurate in commands.

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t1_jas17jl wrote

They've to find ways to compensate for poor enlistments and it'll be suffering more after Biden's college debt help. Free college tuition at the cost of enlistment isn't that attractive anymore.

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t1_jasjomy wrote

I think we are going back to the Spartans and other elite military fighters who had servants to go into battle with them to carry weapons, assist the soldier during battle, or to pull out injured soldiers, as their only task. Read your history, it’s back!

1

t1_jasl4c4 wrote

I can imagine an army commander at a battlefield full of robotic dogs, and then he yells, “SIC BALLS!”

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t1_jasqznw wrote

Replying to The-God-Of-Memez (#2,152,861)

I can imagine something like that happening on the Moon or Mars. Because these places are so hostile to human habitation, a space colony would probably have a long first phase where robots build the colony before the astronauts arrive in any numbers. If it came to war, the robots would fight it out among themselves.

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t1_jasyqt5 wrote

I’ve played generation zero, I know how aggressive those dogs are going to be.

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t1_jat2smv wrote

We need to transition the A-10 warthog from an airplane to a giant robot BRRRRRRRRT doggie.

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t1_jat643g wrote

I was thinking about how they could train them to find and bring wounded people to safety like the “surrender drones”

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t1_jatjo0i wrote

Replying to Seiren- (#2,152,398)

Because they developed the tech into spot, the same way you don't see people flexing the fact they have an iPhone 5. I'm also pretty sure that BD is now owned by a Korean company and not fond of people putting weapons on their robots.

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t1_jatqek2 wrote

Replying to Seiren- (#2,152,398)

They didn’t abruptly stop showing videos of big dog. They developed big dog — which was big because the technology wasn’t very compact yet — into this product, then sold to Hyundai. They still produce tons of videos.

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t1_jau4y6k wrote

One step closer to Terminators. Oh Skynet, hurry up and save us already!

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t1_jaudahk wrote

Meps is wild these days… two robots just got waivers for “eye sight” and then the same old man that’s looked at everyone’s asshole in the service(because it’s the same guy) told one it had haemorrhoids. /j

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t1_jauf031 wrote

The episode of Mirror Mirror with robot dogs scared the daylights out of me. It haunts me still and I watched it 5 years ago at least!

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t1_jauhhfe wrote

We will know they are ubiquitous when they start being called by their short-form name: "Rogs".

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t1_jaujk9d wrote

I really just don’t understand what is happening right now. This is crazy

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t1_jaukjsr wrote

What will the poor do when they can’t even become a soldier?

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t1_jaulo2v wrote

They’re pretty cute when they’re robot puppies

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t1_jav4clk wrote

Anybody else see that episode of Black Mirror? Lol

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t1_jav7o6m wrote

What are we going to do with all the unemployed dogs that have had their jobs replaced by robots?

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t1_javo7tl wrote

Now we know what will be clearing out homeless encampments in a decade or so.

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t1_jawlxdd wrote

Replying to Bobtheguardian22 (#2,156,224)

That’s not what the AI’s role would be. The human will make the decision to fire at something or someone, but they wouldn’t need you to operate its movement. So you tell the AI robot dog to kill that thing, then it moves, aims and fires on its own. So the human is making the determination what is a school bus and and enemy combatant, not the AI.

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t1_jbiyv9w wrote

Replying to savage_slurpie (#2,153,288)

The use of drones really hasn't changed anything from an ethics standpoint. Pilots dropping bombs from drones is ethically and practically no different than pilots dropping bombs from bombers and fighter jets. In all those scenarios, the pilot is using inputs from various types of data to make the decision to drop the bomb and is making that decision from a perspective of complete safety from enemy attack.

The real change in the calculus of ethics will happen when drones have the ability to decide whether or not to kill a human target. By "decide", I don't mean automatically running a program to determine whether or not the target fits a preprogrammed target profile (even if that target profile is determined through machine learning, even self-trained machine learning). Instead, I mean "decide" in the sense of actual generalized AI where the drone, on its own initiative, makes the conscious decision whether or not to kill a human target. We're a very long way off from that.

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t1_jbj014r wrote

Replying to noada21 (#2,151,983)

They seem perfect to use as rescue tools. Their small size, agility, balance, etc. makes them perfect for use in rescue situations where there are people trapped in ruble (like after various natural disasters) or potentially people who are trapped in positions where it would be too dangerous to send a person (as in you could send these into a burning building to look for trapped people rather than sending in firemen if it's not known whether people are in fact inside and alive). I'd love to see a rescue line of these developed with various attachments like a jaws of life, fire extinguisher, oxygen tank, watercraft for navigating flood areas to deliver medical and emergency supplies, etc.

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