Should We Give Robots Paintball Guns?
MSCHF’s plans to let consumers control Spot and a paintball gun (aka ‘Spot’s Rampage’) could be an inflection point
I’m not afraid of robots, not at least in the same way I fear humankind and its potential for administering pain and suffering. Even so, I understand the concern surrounding MSCHF’s latest bit of mischief: putting a paintball gun on the back of one of Boston Dynamic’s Spot quadruped robots.
I track Spot updates closely, and yet I missed this one. It wasn’t until I saw a Twitter post from my former PCMag colleague and current TechCrunch hardware editor Brian Heater that I learned about MSCHF’s audacious plan: attach a paintball gun to the back of Spot and let online viewers remote-control its path and shooting activity through a Brooklyn-based faux art gallery. Heater’s article has a lot more details about the event and some insight on what it’s like to pilot Spot.
A paintball gun is marginally a weapon, but it’s now clear to me and Heater that MSCHF’s aim is to “weaponize” Spot and make some sort of statement about the dangers of semi-autonomous robots and their use in war and, maybe, law enforcement. Plus, calling the event “Spot’s Rampage” puts too fine a point on their intentions.
