Boston Dynamics Pledges to Never Weaponize Its Robots

Boston Dynamics and several leading robotics companies, including China’s Unitree, are promising to never weaponize their technologies when it comes to general purpose robots.  

The companies announced(Opens in a new window) the pledge today amid a growing number of videos and demos showing how the quadruped “robot dogs” that Boston Dynamics helped pioneer can be easily outfitted with guns and rocket launchers. 

“We now feel renewed urgency in light of the increasing public concern in recent months caused by a small number of people who have visibly publicized their makeshift efforts to weaponize commercially available robots,” said the companies, which also include Agility Robotics, a maker of bipedal delivery bots. 

Earlier this year, a video showed one such robot dog being outfitted with an SMG, which can be fired remotely. Since then, other YouTubers have done the same(Opens in a new window), demonstrating that it isn’t hard to weaponize the technology, although the results vary. Meanwhile, in Russia, one company even placed a rocket launcher on a robot dog. 

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Boston Dynamics and its peers are now going out of their way to condemn the practice, saying it risks creating harm and violating ethics. “Weaponized applications of these newly capable robots will also harm public trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous benefits they will bring to society,” the companies wrote. “For these reasons, we do not support the weaponization of our advanced-mobility general-purpose robots.”

The pledge also signals the companies will try to vet who buys their robot technologies. “When possible, we will carefully review our customers’ intended applications to avoid potential weaponization,” the companies wrote in the pledge. But that may be easier said than done, especially if the products can be easily bought online. 

Makeshift efforts to weaponize the robots have largely involved using the Go1 robot dog from the Chinese company Unitree Robotics. You can currently buy one online for $2,700 from Unitree’s website or go through a third-party store such as Aliexpress. 

Unitree didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. However, others like Boston Dynamics have been selling access to their robots through a dedicated sales team, rather than through mass market e-commerce. The company’s terms and conditions(Opens in a new window) also ban customers from using its robots as “weapons or to enable weapons, or to harm or intimidate any person or animal.” 

In the pledge, the companies added: “We understand that our commitment alone is not enough to fully address these risks, and therefore we call on policymakers to work with us to promote safe use of these robots and to prohibit their misuse.” In other words, it’s time for lawmakers to get involved and consider pushing legislation to outlaw weaponizing general-purpose robots. 

However, the pledge steers clear of robot weaponization when it comes to military purposes. “To be clear, we are not taking issue with existing technologies that nations and their government agencies use to defend themselves and uphold their laws,” the companies noted.

One firm called Ghost Robotics, which is not part of the pledge, has already been developing robot dogs that can be used for defense applications.