Boston Dynamics robotic dog In law was one of the many robots tested by the French army during training sessions in a military school in north-western France, The edge and West France reported. It was used during a two-day training session with the aim of “measuring the added value of robots in combat”, explains the school commander Jean-Baptiste Cavalier.
The exercises aimed to get the students to think about how the robots might be deployed in future combat situations. The students designed three offensive and defensive missions, with Spot primarily used for reconnaissance. The scenarios were carried out by the pupils first without then with the help of the robots. The other bots deployed were a tank-like remote control vehicle called OPTIO-X20 armed with a cannon and Barakuda, an armored wheeled drone designed to provide cover for advancing soldiers.
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The robots were loaned to the army by a European distributor Shark robotics and Nexter Group, according to a tweet from the military school Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan. However, maker Spot Boston Robotics had no knowledge of the deployment, a spokesperson said. The edge.
Some of Boston Dynamics’ early robots, including Atlas, were funded by the DARPA arm of the US military, but the company slowly drifted away from its military ties. The company’s current terms and conditions prevent them from being used to “harm or intimidate any person or animal, as a weapon, or to activate any weapon.”
Still, Boston Robotics isn’t necessarily against using robots to get soldiers out of harm’s way, the company said, and is still evaluating this idea of using robots for reconnaissance and other more passive tasks. Spot-type bots from the company’s rival Ghost Robotics have already been deployed by the US military to patrol Air Force facilities.
