The four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics was spotted during French army training at a military school in
The teachings were aimed at changing the planactions in case of interaction between military and robots in future combat situations. They conducted three offensive and defensive missions, with Spot used primarily for reconnaissance. The robots were controlled remotely, the OPTIO-X20 autonomous tank with a cannon also participated in the exercise, and the Barakuda, an armored wheeled unmanned aerial vehicle designed to shelter advancing soldiers.
The military concluded that the robots slowed downoperation, but kept the troops safe: One soldier reported that he "died" in the first exercise without a Spot, but survived in the second thanks to the robot's reconnaissance. However, the robot didn’t have enough battery power for the entire exercise.
The robots were loaned to the army by European distributor Shark Robotics and the Nexter Group. However, Boston Dynamics was unaware of the operation.
Boston Robotics has not expressed its position onabout the use of robots during military operations. However, the devices of the competing company Ghost Robotics have already been used on patrolling the objects of the US Air Force.
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