Right, this is a bit bloody terrifying. You’ve seen those weird robot dogs before, now get ready to see a whole army of them.
A viral video on Twitter posted by Chinese robotics company, Unitree, shows an “army” of black robotic dogs moving in unison.
Not exactly the robot overlords we imagined, they kind of look like adorable little ATAT’s, so much so that the video has used the Imperial March for its audio.
“The Force Awakens. Everyone, help count how many?” says the tweet accompanying the video of the robot dogs who are obviously very well trained and deserve a metal treat.
The Force Awakens. Everyone, help count how many? 😀 pic.twitter.com/6NpZOUmQ1s
— Unitree Robotics (@UnitreeRobotics) March 9, 2021
Chinese robotics startup Unitree’s robot dog model is called A1. With impressive specifications and performances, it costs less than $10,000
[video, more: https://t.co/CoZBY3Unu4]— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 18, 2021
Unitree’s products also include ‘BenBen’, ‘Aliengo’, ‘Laikago’, and ‘A1’, all variants of a similar dog-like design.
After an artist made people worry that robot dogs could be used for military purposes when Boston Dynamics’ ‘Spot’ was filmed running around with a mounted paintball gun, Twitter users grew concerned that the same thing could happen with the Unitree’s robo-dogs.
“There’s only one thing we need to know about these robots: how to destroy them as quickly as possible,” wrote @sean_munger.
“Who had ‘robot army’ for March?” said @dhr192
Unitree embraced their ‘dark side’ and quelled concerns in a light-hearted manner by posting another video to Twitter full of memes, stating that they are not “the baddies”.
The Force Awakens 2. A New Hope 🤩 . PS：Please watch the previous video first. pic.twitter.com/3hlwr46QEH
— Unitree Robotics (@UnitreeRobotics) March 15, 2021
…For now.
If you have a spare $15,000 lying around, you can register your interest in purchasing a robo-companion here.
