The U.S Department of Defense has released a statement that said that the youngest branch of the US military will deploy Ghost Robotics’ “quadruped unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGVs)” — dog-like robots — in an effort to automate “damage assessments and patrol” at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, thus saving “significant man hours.”
The robot unit will be deployed by Space Launch Delta 45, the fearless Space Force “Guardians” who manage all Cape Canaveral Space Force operations, Space.com reports.
According to the report, these Q-UGVs have complex audio and visual communications software. Although they can operate independently, they can also be controlled through manual and audio commands.
On their site, Ghost Robotics describes their dog-bots as “high-endurance, agile and durable all-weather ground drone(s),” ultimately created to keep “warfighters, workers and K9s out of harm’s way.”
During early tests, troops dispatched their two robot canines inside a hangar — and posed with them in front of a gigantic American flag.
The Air Force is very comfortable with these robo-dogs. They were first deployed by the Air Force at Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base back in 2020, and have since been incorporated into regular operations at other Air Force bases.
“We will be able to see exactly what the robot dog is detecting through its mobile camera and sensor platform,” Air Force major Jordan Criss said in a 2020 press release. “If desired, we will also be able to issue verbal commands to a person or people through a radio attached to the dogs.”