Robotic ghost dog: the next frontier in military safety
The company Ghost Robotics, which specializes in legged robots and is located in Philadelphia, is the maker of this robotic dog known as “Vision 60.” Prior to this, we discovered Vision 60 robots working for the American military at a 2020 American Air Force training exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The equipment there assisted in creating a perimeter of security. Robo-dogs make it possible to rely on fewer humans for the work of patrolling air bases, which sometimes require runways that are thousands of feet long.
The quadruped robot may look like a sweet kid, but it is really equipped with a sniper rifle that can engage targets from a distance of up to three-quarters of a mile away. This robotic weapon system might be remotely controlled by the service. It is important to note that it would only engage targets with a person’s authorization.
When it comes to its cooperation with the military and police enforcement, Ghost has so far shown no ethical hesitations of any kind. However, the company’s product design may ultimately land it in trouble. On November 11, Boston Dynamics filed a lawsuit in the Delaware courts accusing Ghost of violating many patents.
The complaint states that rivals in the robotics business, such as Ghost Robotics, “did not go unnoticed by Boston Dynamics’ early success with the Spot robot.” It continues by mentioning two particular versions, the “dog”-like quadrupeds Vision 60 and Spirit 40.
When photos from a trade fair showed one of Ghost’s robots with a SWORD Defense Systems Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle (SPUR) affixed to its back, the company earned notoriety in the latter part of last year.
Jiren Parikh, the company’s then-CEO, informed at the time:
The payloads are not made by us. Will we endorse or publicize any of these armament systems? Most likely not. It’s difficult to respond to it. We don’t know what the military does with the items we sell to them because we don’t know. We won’t impose our preferences on how our government clients employ robots.
Where they are sold is where we draw the line. We exclusively do business with American and allies governments. Even worse, we don’t offer our robots for sale to businesses in competitive marketplaces. Where they are sold is where we draw the line. We exclusively do business with American and allies governments. Even worse, we don’t offer our robots for sale to businesses in competitive marketplaces. Our robots are frequently enquired about in China and Russia. We don’t ship there, not even for our business clients.
For the allegedly committed infringing acts, the lawsuit requests the court to grant specific damages. Regarding Boston Dynamics’ application, we’ve contacted Ghost Robotics and will update the article as soon as we hear back.
