Armed with remote-controlled rifles, military robot dogs are now on the move.

A ROBOTICS company has unveiled a dog-like robot that can carry a remote-controlled gun on its back.

The robot dog has a remote-controlled rifle attached to its back as a human operator can control it via an Android tablet. The robot has been named the SPUR, which stands for Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle.

It features a 6.5mm Creedmoor rifle, from military defense company SWORD International, on top of a Quadrupedal Unmanned Ground Vehicle (QUGV) developed by Ghost Robotics.

The SPUR was first displayed at the US Army’s annual convention in Washington DC on Monday.

It is thought to be the first example of an unmanned system with a weapon attached, according to The Drive.

The robot has day and night vision and the ability to shoot bullets out to 1200 metres.

It can also move in difficult terrain, alert the human operator when it encounters something unexpected, and even climb stairs.

Ghost Robotics CEO Jiren Parikh has assured that the robot cannot act on its own without human intervention.

He told New Scientist: “It is fully controlled by a remote operator. There is a human controlling the weapon, there is no autonomy or AI.”

It is likely the human operators of the SPUR would be able to fire it using an Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), an app that can be installed on tablets and access on-board video cameras.

Ghost Robotics has said that SPUR can be instructed remotely to chamber the first round from an unloaded state, as well as clear the chamber and safe the gun.

It is unclear how much ammunition the gun contains or how difficult it might be to reload.

The Creed moor rifle is not currently used widely by the military or other forces around the world, but US Special Operations Command is apparently in the process of acquiring light machine guns and rifles similar to this one.

 source: https://en.brinkwire.com