New 'dogs of war' shoot down drones with AI guns

Who's a good boy?

The US military is experimenting with “robot dogs”—four-legged robots that can scamper over rough terrain. The latest such “dog” is a perfect reflection of the new cyberpunk warfare emerging from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (characterized by drones, jamming, hacking, and robots).

The Army this month deployed a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Quadrupedal-Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV) to the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center in Saudi Arabia, according to a photo released by the Army that the Pentagon isn’t talking about, other than to say that the picture shows one of 16 “counter-drone platforms” being tested there.

The photo shows the “dog” equipped with an AR-15/M16-pattern rifle on a rotating turret controlled by AI.

Let’s be very clear about how crazy this is — i.e., how different this weapon is compared with what anyone could conceive of just a few years ago.

This semi-autonomous robot would accompany special forces and use AI to target drones that are themselves controlled by AI (to defeat jamming technology).

Stated another way: An AI dog is designed to shoot down an AI bird that’s carrying a bomb or camera.

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My Location: Essaouira, Morocco

(Why Mike is always traveling.)

The coastal city of Essaouira has more street cats than usual because of its fishing industry, which provides scraps for the cats. When it gets cold, the kittens stay warm by sitting on the lights that illuminate the medina walls at night.