Battlefield 2042 becomes reality: The US military may soon add tactical robot dogs armed with sniper rifles to its arsenal

Military forces around the globe are increasingly utilizing highly advanced technologies and gadgets, which apparently take on more or less absurd forms. On a recent convention held by the United States Army in the capital Washington D.C., the Philadelphia-based company Ghost Robotics has now revealed a powerful upgrade for its line of robot dogs, which could be particularly useful for military purposes in the future.

The four-legged upgraded robot dog is based on the Vision 60 and is now called SPUR, short for Special Use Unmanned Rifle. On its back, the robot dog is equipped with a Creedmoor rifle that is chambered in the 6.5mm caliber and has a respectable effective range of 1,200 meters. With its advanced sensors, night vision and four stabilizing legs, the SPUR robot dog can be precisely operated at day and at night. Like a real dog, the SPUR can also be utilized in rough and uneven terrains, where robots that are equipped with wheels would usually struggle. It is for example imaginable that the SPUR robot dog could patrol the perimeters around military bases in the future.

In contrast to several rumors, the armed robot dog has to be controlled remotely by a human operator for the time being. An A.I.-powered autonomous operation mode is currently not available, but from a technical point of view the SPUR is supposedly already equipped with the necessary sensors that could enable it to work autonomously in the future. Fans of DICE's Battlefield series may find this entire concept of an armed robot dog to be quite familiar, since the latest entry Battlefield 2042 (from US$59 on Amazon) prominently features such a machine that can be seen in the picture below.