A short clip making rounds on Chinese social media depicts the two machines firing pyrotechnics at each other
A short video clip capturing a ‘firefight’ between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a robotic dog has been making rounds on Chinese social media.
The UAV hovering about two meters (6.5 feet) above the ground is seen showering its opponent with fireworks attached to its landing gear. The robo-dog returns fire with pyrotechnics, while both machines constantly manoeuvre, apparently trying to avoid being hit.
It is not clear which of the two eventually came out on top. As the South China Morning Post notes on Monday, there is no information available on the provenance of the video, nor whether the UAV and the robo-dog were being controlled remotely or were operating autonomously. According to the newspaper, the drone resembles a DJI T-series agricultural model, while its rival appeared to belong to the Go series produced by the Hangzhou-based robot developer Unitree Robotics.
Though drones have emerged as a key element of a modern battlefield during the course of the ongoing Ukraine conflict, ground robots are still somewhat less commonplace, while a number of militaries have already either started testing or put such systems into operation. During Russia’s Army expo in August 2022, the company Intellect Machine unveiled its first prototype of the M-81 robot dog system, furnished with a rocket launcher.
Earlier this month, Indian troops paraded the first batch of locally-manufactured four-legged, AI-powered robots. Dubbed MULES (Multi-Utility Legged Equipment) and fitted with advanced thermal cameras and sensors, the machines are suited for surveillance as well as combat missions, with the possibility to equip them with small arms.
Back in October, a US Army Central spokesperson confirmed to the Military.com media outlet that the Pentagon had deployed at least one AI-enabled robot dog with what appeared to be an AR-15/M16-type rifle mounted on a rotating turret to drills in Saudi Arabia several weeks prior. The Department of Defense then released a photo of the Quadrupedal-Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV).
During the joint Golden Dragon 2024 drills with Cambodia last May, the People’s Liberation Army of China demonstrated a number of military robots, including a dog-like, remotely-operated machine equipped with an assault rifle and capable of planning its routes and avoiding obstacles on its own.
