This Will Freak You Out: Google’s New Small Dog Robot
Boston Dynamics, a company purchased last year by Google, has posted videos of a dog-like robot, named Spot. The robot dog weighs around 160 lbs and is very tough. as you can see in the video.
I've watched Boston Dynamics for a long time, as I dabble in tooling & fixtures for robots from time to time.
The Google purchase bothered me in that most of Boston Dynamics revenue prior came from Darpa & defense department oriented contracts, so I can only surmise that now the relationship between Google & the US government grows cozier/stronger.
I've always admired Boston Dynamics work(in technical terms), but their primary "mission" is to aid war, which is not admirable most of the time in the case of the US gov't, especially as it's not in self defense...and of course their reliance(prior to the Google purchase) upon tax money is not admirable either.
I can only hope that their advances shake out in a way to benefit the private sector(maybe the redeeming quality of the Google acquisition) and that the potential for death & destruction from their continued development can be mitigated somehow.
You just know that weaponization can't be far away.
ReplyDeleteI've watched Boston Dynamics for a long time, as I dabble in tooling & fixtures for robots from time to time.
DeleteThe Google purchase bothered me in that most of Boston Dynamics revenue prior came from Darpa & defense department oriented contracts, so I can only surmise that now the relationship between Google & the US government grows cozier/stronger.
I've always admired Boston Dynamics work(in technical terms), but their primary "mission" is to aid war, which is not admirable most of the time in the case of the US gov't, especially as it's not in self defense...and of course their reliance(prior to the Google purchase) upon tax money is not admirable either.
I can only hope that their advances shake out in a way to benefit the private sector(maybe the redeeming quality of the Google acquisition) and that the potential for death & destruction from their continued development can be mitigated somehow.
Freaked me out, indeed.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't they have just duct taped on a Slinky Dog head or some such?