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jeffw@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 1 year ago

You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000

arstechnica.com

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  • cross-posted to:
  • futurology@futurology.today
  • noncredibledefense@sh.itjust.works
  • technology@lemmy.world
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You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000

arstechnica.com

jeffw@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 1 year ago
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  • cross-posted to:
  • futurology@futurology.today
  • noncredibledefense@sh.itjust.works
  • technology@lemmy.world
Thermonator, the first "flamethrower-wielding robot dog," is completely legal in 48 US states.
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  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆@yiffit.netBanned
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    Also: Which 2 states are the sane ones where this would be illegal?

    Edit: California and Maryland. And you can have one in California, if you get a special permit.

    • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
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      Because. Also, flamethrower aren’t considered weapons by the government, so the only states that limits you from buying one is California and Ohio and Maryland banned them.

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆@yiffit.netBanned
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        Ohio has a ban too? The company that makes these is based in Ohio lol

        • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
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          Not a ban, a restriction. Like California, you need a permit. Sorry if I made that confusing.

          • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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            Ok new life goal. Be that guy at the DMV with a permit for a flamethrower arguing with the civil servant that “because it is cool” is a valid reason

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          Of course they are…

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        California allows roofers to have flamethrowers. They use them for curing something in the roofing tiles(? I don’t know the proper term for those things. They’re basically cardboard covered in tar and gravel, possibly a thin layer of asphalt?).

        It was a bit unnerving the first few times I heard the roofers doing their thing.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          They’re called shingles, asphalt shingles being the most common in most parts of the US because they’re relatively inexpensive.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        Ok how the hell did Ohio limit flamethrowers? We’re the Florida of the north

        • ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works
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          Apparently the company is even based here in Cleveland

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            Didn’t expect Cleveland felt more dayton with the whole lunatic idea with military applications thing

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      But… why?

      cartoon gopher peeking up out of his hole

      Anti Commercial-AI license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

      • mriguy@lemmy.world
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        No, the question is why not?

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆@yiffit.netBanned
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        Where’s the robot to clean up the flaming, decapitated gopher carcasses off my lawn?

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          Where’s the robot to clean up the flaming, decapitated gopher carcasses off my lawn?

          Not needed, because they get flamed while they’re in their burrows underground. So all you have to do is plug up the holes after the bot comes out and you’re done.

          Anti Commercial-AI license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          They have an app for that now. It’s like Uber but somehow even treats their “contractors” in a worse fashion. It’s called Flameaway.

    • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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      Because, Awesome!

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      Screw those states, flamethrowers are awesome and I want to see more of them.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    Well now I’m definitely going to have to save up $10,000 for a flame-throwing robot dog.

    How else am I going to protect myself from all the flame-throwing robot dogs?

    • Juice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      The only defense against a bad guy with a flame throwing robot dog, is a good guy with a flame throwing robot dog

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        What about a neutral girl with a flame throwing robot dog?

        • TheOgreChef@lemmy.world
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          Believe it or not, a chaotic neutral or lawful good girl with a flame throwing robot dog. There are some nuances if you’re using Pathfinder.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            I’ll take all the nuance if it means more flamethrower robot dog gladiator battles.

        • Juice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I’ll take those odds!

    • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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      How else am I going to protect myself from all the flame-throwing robot dogs?

      Build a tesla coil for $100.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        What if their flame thrower range is longer than the range of my Tesla coil?

        Also, how will I get my revenge?

        • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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          Also, how will I get my revenge?

          With a fire-extinguisher robot dog?

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            I can’t kill my neighbor who sent the flamethrower robot dog to my house with a fire extinguisher robot dog! Not without plausible deniability anyway.

          • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            Not quite doable: https://youtu.be/Ry5YEknaxBk

            • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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              A 5 minute thing blown up to a 50 minutes action sequence with cars drawing circles in the desert and a helicopter filming infrared and tüdelü, all in 10x repeat, is a sad new high for me.

              But of course someone tested that already.

              • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                Well…That’s TV shows for you.
                But even better: Between each repeat would be an ad break. :)
                At least we don’t have that (premium and/or ad blocker) on youtube…

                • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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                  Didn’t notice the ads. Newpipe with sponsorblock i guess?

            • PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocksB
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              Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

              https://piped.video/Ry5YEknaxBk

              Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

              I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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          Make use of the only good usefully informative scene in Small Soldiers, and use a power transformer to create a city block radius EMP

        • daltotron@lemmy.world
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          The nice part of that is that the fire conducts along the electricity

          Edit: this was like two weeks ago but it was the other way around I am dumb

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      You gotta fight fire with fire

  • Hal-5700X@sh.itjust.worksBanned
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    Neat.

  • HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone
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    What possible use case is there for this that isn’t a felony of some description?

    • dariusj18@lemmy.world
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      Gonna assume controlled burns in difficult terrain.

      • snooggums@midwest.social
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        Also the reason that flamethrowers aren’t illegal in most states, since being able to project flame makes controlled burns a lot easier.

        • variants@possumpat.io
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          I thought they use those fire paintball marker things

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      Deer hunting. Don’t think, just buy one and do it. It’s the American way.

      • vegaquake@lemmy.world
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        get a nice char on them fuckers while they twitchin

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          Don’t even bother shooting them, just use the flamethrower for everything. There may be collateral damage but it’s worth it.

    • adam_y@lemmy.world
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      West bank.

      • adam_y@lemmy.world
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        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.

        • moon@lemmy.ml
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          Boston Dynamic didn’t let this happen. Their EULA explicitly prevents people from doing this so they used this robot from Unitree instead

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      Employees trying to unionize.

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

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

    • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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      Bored on a weeknight

      • Zorque@kbin.social
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        I don’t know if I’d ever be bored if I had a Wee Knight to ride.

        • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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          You should really get the full size, mine tires out too quickly

    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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      Seems perfect for mole problems.

      • potatopotato@sh.itjust.works
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        Now that’s how you kill all the gophers

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      Rapid heating of slabs of meat for some weird meat effect rich people pay for

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        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.

    • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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      Fuck up the rabbits that eat my flowers and leave a monolayer of rabbit shit on my property?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        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.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      Roofing

      • LeroyJenkins@lemmy.world
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        throw flames at your enemies from your roof

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      Kudzu abatement.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      I hate having to carry around a .5g firelight, this will save me the immense difficulty.

  • Mastengwe@lemm.ee
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    deleted by creator

    • NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world
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      Dear ladies and gentleman of the jury. I will now argue that the LLM that programmed the fire breathing dog, did so in such a manner as to make it sentient. The dog was able to and did act of it’s own accord when it killed the woman, Ms Smith. The defendant here did not create sentience in the dog, nor could he have known turning the dog on, outside, may result in the fire breathing dog torch a bystander to death.

      You can see here, the dogs walking and urination patterns closely align with a real, organic dog. This definitively proves that the dog killed the woman, and now the defendant, who only released the dog into nature. Thank you very much.

  • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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    “The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse”

    Here we go…

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      Fahrenheit 451?

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        Or Celsius 232.778 as it is known outside the US.

        I didn’t think the name flows off the tongue as well though.

        • Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
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          It would if you kept the number of significant digits the same.

          • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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            1 year ago

            Perhaps even better.

      • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Yes.

    • Jojo@lemm.ee
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      Why do people keep reading dystopias as instruction books?

      • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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        Your guess is as good as mine. Let’s just hope that they didn’t also see any copies of The Limits to Growth as well. It was a scientific report published in 1972 by a think-tank. Using computer models developed at MIT, the authors warned that continuing on business-as-usual population and consumption growth trajectories would likely lead to societal collapse within the next 100 years.

        I don’t know about you but I’m excited!

    • BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

  • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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    Now that’s one hell of a ‘hot dog’.

    Anti Commercial-AI license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

  • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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    I hate this but it’s hilarious. It’s a microcosm of everything that’s making me depressed right now, and somehow that’s precisely why it’s amazing.

  • Rufus Q. Bodine III@lemmy.world
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    Lying on my bed, my new dog will keep me warm on cool winter nights.

    • Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
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      And you could roast marshmallows in bed!

  • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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    This is a great day! I think we can ALL agree that it’s been deeply frustrating to be priced out of the flame throwing robot dog market for so long.

    • Chozo@fedia.io
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      This is an absolute W for flamethrowing robot dog enthusiasts everywhere.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      You were paying the market rate for your flamethrowing robot dog? Dude, buy refurbished.

  • Erasmus@lemmy.world
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    Israeli Military have entered the chat.

  • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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    Imagine telling your insurance about your newest purchase.

    • Nom Nom@lemm.ee
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      They’ll probably ask for a referral, it’s legal in 48 states.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        Ok so… I’m guessing CA and NY are the two that have outlawed flamethrowers for non roofers and non combatants?

        I know damn well the roofers in CA have flame throwers, they’re small-ish, and can only shoot a 7’-8’ flame, but they definitely have them.

        • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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          Only 8’! What monsters are they fighting on those rooftops?

          8" sounds more like a large torch than a flamethrower to me, IDK how they classify things tho.

  • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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    So how much for a shark with a frickin’ laser beam attached to its head?

    • Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
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      I’d settle for some ill-tempered sea bass.

  • fubarx@lemmy.ml
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    Fire-extinguisher robot dogs in 3, 2, …

    • MashedTech@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, no. Saving people sounds like a waste of money. How can we monetize saving them? Their deaths are way more lucrative.

    • coffeebiscuit@lemmy.world
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      That was the excuse dog to make this dog possible. Please pay attention when safety robots are announced.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      They already have Spot dogs that can do fire supression. But they need the mechanical arm that the newer revisions introduced.

  • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldBanned
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    Great. Which country has your bet for the first country to sic these on their enemies?

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      https://billypenn.com/2024/04/22/israel-palestine-gaza-robot-dogs-ghost-robotics/

      • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldBanned
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        Well, that answers that question.

      • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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        At last, a way to commit genocide without dirtying your hands. Combine that with their AI modelling of attack vict… targets, and they’ll just have a 24/7 roaming robot kill squad.

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