Robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics, have signed an agreement committing not to weaponize their robots to remove the risk of harm and maintain public confidence in their creations.
On October 6, Boston Dynamics announced in an official letter that it would not prosecute or allow the use of its robots as weapons. The document was signed by 5 more robotics companies: Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree Robotics.
“We believe that the addition of weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously controlled, widely accessible to the public, and able to travel to previously inaccessible places where people live and work creates new risks of harm and serious ethical issues. The use of these new robots as weapons will also negatively impact public trust in the technology, harming the enormous benefits they will bring to society,” the letter says.
The companies also cite “growing public concern in recent months caused by the small number of people who have been openly publicizing their impromptu efforts to weaponize commercially available robots.”
Today we join five other leading robotics companies in pledging that we will not weaponize our advanced-mobility general-purpose robots or the software we develop that enables advanced robotics and we will not support others to do so. Read the full letter: https://t.co/XOwXIfOEfe
— Boston Dynamics (@BostonDynamics) October 6, 2022
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Apparently, we are talking about products Ghost Robotics . The company has created robotic dogs for the military and unveiled the model at the 2021 US Army Association annual conference in Washington, DC. A special purpose unmanned rifle (SPUR) module was specially developed for the robot. It is designed in such a way that it can be installed on various robotic platforms. SPUR includes a 30x optical system, a thermal imaging camera for aiming at a target in the dark and has an effective range of 1200 meters. The developer of this rifle is the company Sword International.
The companies also say in their letter that they will try to prevent their customers from later weaponizing any platforms that have been sold to them. That’s a big caveat, given the long and storied history of weapons like the Toyota Technical, ex-Hilux pickups converted into makeshift fighting vehicles used in 1980s conflicts.
“We are also committed to exploring the development of technology features that could mitigate or reduce these risks. To be clear, we do not argue with existing technologies that countries and their government agencies use to protect themselves and enforce their laws,” the companies add.
They are also calling on politicians, as well as the rest of the robotics community, to make similar commitments.
In turn, Boston Dynamics robots can help eliminate the consequences of the use of weapons. Thus, the US Army agreed to provide one of its two robotic dogs to Spot Boston Dynamics to help an American non-profit organization with the clearance of Ukrainian territories contaminated by mines and other explosive objects from Russian occupiers.
Source: Engadget , Axios
