Comment by piokoch
1 day ago
Exactly. Robodog that costs 5K USD, which is probably less than one month of cost of the infantry soldier, and can be sent to fight in the trenches is something generals would dream of. Ukraine, that is experiencing soldiers shortage will go in that direction, at the beginning with something simple like remotely steered land drones.
People are remarkably cheap and versatile especially if you happen to don’t give a fuck about them. I find it hard to imagine a high-tech incredibly unreliable complex robot to be of any value in the battlefield. Even my phone is remarkably unreliable, have to keep it charged, bugs, etc. I noticed this during COVID and its QR-scanning phase at restaurants.
A simple pipe bomb or two will make short work of any incoming monstrosity.
What they need is simple, simple tech, cheap and lots and lots of it. Basic drones and RC cars rigged with stupid bombs will accomplish 90% of what fancy robodogs can do at a fraction of the cost.
A robot dog hiding in bushes for reconnaissance is significantly more energy efficient than letting drones loiter in the air.
Killing people is already a solved problem. Use mortars, call air strikes, send drones, let a heli shoot 30mm rounds, etc.