this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000 (arstechnica.com)
submitted 10 months ago by jeffw to c/technology
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[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (12 children)

What possible use case is there for this that isn't a felony of some description?

[–] dariusj18 47 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Gonna assume controlled burns in difficult terrain.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Also the reason that flamethrowers aren't illegal in most states, since being able to project flame makes controlled burns a lot easier.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I thought they use those fire paintball marker things

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Deer hunting. Don't think, just buy one and do it. It's the American way.

[–] vegaquake 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

get a nice char on them fuckers while they twitchin

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Don't even bother shooting them, just use the flamethrower for everything. There may be collateral damage but it's worth it.

[–] adam_y 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

West bank.

[–] adam_y 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I say that, but I, in no way, want that to happen.

But yeah, Boston Dynamic have long said that they don't want their robots weaponised, but here we are seeing it happen.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Boston Dynamics has made multiple robots for DARPA. If they make a really great platform, I expect they're probably gonna be weaponized at some point. Maybe not by them, but...

I remember a buddy of mine who was working on an autonomous, self-mapping rover research project at his university on a DARPA project. He was just working on the navigation side, part of a larger project. He was telling me how he had a "huh" moment when they got the first control unit and it had a big red button on it labelled "weapon".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Boston Dynamic didn't let this happen. Their EULA explicitly prevents people from doing this so they used this robot from Unitree instead

[–] FlyingSquid 9 points 10 months ago

Employees trying to unionize.

At least it seems like that sort of thing never ends up being a felony...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Seems perfect for mole problems.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Now that's how you kill all the gophers

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

How else am I gonna light the fireplace without getting up from the couch?

[–] afraid_of_zombies 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Rapid heating of slabs of meat for some weird meat effect rich people pay for

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butane_torch

Culinary

Butane torches are frequently employed as kitchen gadgets to caramelize sugar in cooking, such as when making crème brûlée. They may be marketed as kitchen torches, cooking torches, or culinary torches. Use of the butane torch in the kitchen is not limited to caramelizing sugar; it can be used to melt or brown toppings on casseroles or soups, to melt cheese, and to roast or char vegetables such as peppers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They are not actually that expensive. You just feel posh when you use one.

My girlfriend came with one, it's great for grilled cheese. But I'm not allowed to use it anymore because I set fire to a chocolate bar.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

But I’m not allowed to use it anymore because I set fire to a chocolate bar.

Huh. TIL.

https://kitchenroar.com/flammable/chocolate/

Chocolate, or more so cocoa, is highly flammable. If it catches fire, the blaze is difficult to extinguish since cocoa powder contains 10 to 20 per cent fat and has a huge surface area. Yes, chocolate is flammable. Most solid foods possess at least some level of flammability because they are organic, and chocolate is no exception.

See, I don't see how one would have known that without having actually experimented and set a chocolate bar on fire, though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bored on a weeknight

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't know if I'd ever be bored if I had a Wee Knight to ride.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

You should really get the full size, mine tires out too quickly

[–] cabron_offsets 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fuck up the rabbits that eat my flowers and leave a monolayer of rabbit shit on my property?

[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Have you considered a regular dog that doesn't shoot flames? Our non-flamethrowing dog does a very good job taking care of the rabbits she can't chase away.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Probably leaves a monolayer of dog shit, though. Now, a flamethrower robo-dog, there's the dog of the future.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 10 months ago

You can pick up dog shit. You can't unburn your lawn.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Roofing

[–] LeroyJenkins 0 points 10 months ago

throw flames at your enemies from your roof

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Kudzu abatement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I hate having to carry around a .5g firelight, this will save me the immense difficulty.