Some people may find quadruped robots, which resemble a headless dog, adorable, but others find them creepy. If you find robots creepy when they shuffle around the environment, Sword Defense Systems’ new weaponized robot will not help you sleep any better at night. The platform is the Vision 60, a Ghost Robotics robot equipped with a sniper rifle.
At the NDIA Future Force Capabilities Expo in Georgia, the weaponized robot is on display. A rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor is mounted on the robot’s back as a weapon system. It can hit a target up to three-quarters of a mile away, according to the manufacturer. The rifle’s official name is the SPUR (Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle).
The rifle can be mounted on a variety of robots, but in this case, it weighs 17 pounds and is equipped with a FLIR Boson thermal camera with a 30x optical zoom. That camera system is capable of detecting targets at any time of day or night. The rifle has a 10-round magazine and can fire 6.5mm Creedmoor and 7.62 x 51mm NATO rounds.
A ceramic coating is also applied to the rifle to help it blend in with night vision systems. The US military would undoubtedly be interested in remotely controlled weapon systems. It’s also possible that specialized police forces worldwide would like a weapon system like this.
There’s no indication that the robot is self-contained at this time. Few people want to consider autonomous weapon systems making decisions about which targets to engage. On the other hand, platforms like this are essentially the same as the weaponized drone aircraft used by the US military, which are controlled remotely by humans. The SPUR rifle is one of several payloads that Ghost Robotics claims its robot can carry.
Source: newatlas
