Man’s Virtual Best Friend—or Mankind’s Worst Nightmare?
A video of a robotic dog equipped with a machine gun is circulating on social media – months after a man living in Russia posted chilling footage of the dystopian killing machine on YouTube.
“All the people who laughed at the ‘worriers’ years ago for going crazy over Funny Dancing Robot Dogs ™ should be forced to watch this video once a day for the rest of the year,” a Twitter user posted on Wednesday.
The 84-second viral clip, which has been viewed more than 4.3 million times, shows the robotic dog firing a machine gun and sprinting across bricks in front of a snowy field. At one point the killing machine opened fire – knocking her back onto her hind legs with a powerful recoil.
The footage also shows the dog – which carries a Russian flag on one side – advancing near a military vehicle.
The original clip was posted in March by Alexander Atamov of Moscow, who showed a photo of the terrifying creature he called “Skynet,” according to a translation of the post. YouTube
The original clip was posted in March by Alexander Atamov of Moscow, who posted a photo of the terrifying creature on Facebook, which he called “Skynet,” according to a translation of the post.
“It would be nice to have these dogs and other remote-controlled robots in a war on both sides, where the whole war would be without a single person in the field,” one person replied, according to a translation.
“Russian development?” another asked, to which Atamov indicated yes, the post shows.
Atamov’s LinkedIn profile lists him as the founder of Russia’s Hoversurf, which unveiled a new air taxi model in January 2021 that is expected to be ready for flights as early as 2023, Reuters reported.
The footage also shows the robot dog – which carries a Russian flag on one side – advancing near a military vehicle. YouTube
Vice notes that the robot dog is not the same model as Boston Dynamics’ dancing version, although it looks similar, despite having different legs and different ports.
Dozens of Boston Dynamics dog replicas are for sale online, including the version in the video that appears to be a UnitreeYusu “tech dog” that sells for as little as $2,700 online, Vice reported.
The gun attached to the dog appears to be a Russian-made PP-19 Vityaz – a submachine gun based on the AK-47 – while the military vehicle seen in the footage is a Russian BDRM-2 armored car that was recently spotted in Ukraine. according to Vice.
Meanwhile, some on Twitter wondered what could come of the “scary development” of a robotic dog equipped with a machine gun – although it’s unclear whether the device fires autonomously or is remotely controlled.
“Oh this robot dog is so cute they said,” read one tweet. “But deep down you all knew where this was going.”
“Jesus Christ,” remarked another observer.
“I absolutely love how he can’t control recoil and fires random bullets in random directions. This is some dystopian Metal Gear s–t… I’m all for gun control, but if they start having robot dogs with assault rifles, we should start arming ourselves.”
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