Boston Dynamics has been making some pretty impressive strides with their robots. Of course, that success opens them up for some humorous cracks at their expense, and that’s exactly what Bosstown Dynamics has been doing. In their new video, Bosstown Dynamics takes a look at how their new robot makes soldiers obsolete.
The video takes the crew through a series of tests where the robot is put to work firing a different gun. As is usual with Bosstown, it’s not as simple as letting the robot squeeze off a few rounds at the target. Instead, the human side of the tests abuses the robot, throwing objects at it, pushing it around, and kicking it to the ground. They even hit it with hockey sticks, a monkey fist, and a couple of bricks. The robot is tested to see if it can tell the difference between a human and a target, and even if the robot can differentiate between a human and a mannequin. Throughout it all, the only time the robot fires a weapon at a human is when it is armed with a NERF dart gun.
But, as you know it will, the video takes a turn when the robot is armed with a shotgun and ordered to take out a target hidden under a box. What’s under the box? A robot dog that bears more than a passing resemblance to Boston Dynamic’s SpotMini. Even with repeated demands and more abuse, the robot refuses to shoot the robot dog, eventually firing the shotgun to scare off the humans so that it can scoop up the dog and make its escape.
Corridor Digital, a Los Angeles-based production studio, is the group behind Bosstown Dynamics, plus a few other videos. The team specializes in visual effects, and their videos are entertaining and educational—and they’ve sparked some controversy. Back in June, they released a video showing a robot beating its programmers after some tests, and people freaked out. This new video is nothing more than entertaining CGI, so don’t go off on Twitter over it.
