GenZedong

4624 readers

121 users here now

This is a Dengist community in favor of Bashar al-Assad with no information that can lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton, our fellow liberal and queen. This community is not ironic. We are Marxists-Leninists.

See this GitHub page for a collection of sources about socialism, imperialism, and other relevant topics.

This community is for posts about Marxism and geopolitics (including shitposts to some extent). Serious posts can be posted here or in /c/GenZhou. Reactionary or ultra-leftist cringe posts belong in /c/shitreactionariessay or /c/shitultrassay respectively.

We have a Matrix homeserver and a Matrix space. See this thread for more information. If you believe the server may be down, check the status on status.elara.ws.

Rules:

No bigotry, anti-communism, pro-imperialism or ultra-leftism (anti-AES)
We support indigenous liberation as the primary contradiction in settler colonies like the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel
If you post an archived link (excluding archive.org), include the URL of the original article as well
Unless it's an obvious shitpost, include relevant sources
For articles behind paywalls, try to include the text in the post
Mark all posts containing NSFW images as NSFW (including things like Nazi imagery)

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

GrainEater@lemmygrad.ml

ComradePupIvy@lemmygrad.ml

Elara@lemmygrad.ml

American_Communist22@lemmygrad.ml

The Dark Horse of WW3: Humanoid Robots (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml to c/genzedong@lemmygrad.ml

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Recently Hangzhou, Zhejiang based Unitree announced a humanoid robot that costs just 39,999 yuan, or 5,900 USD.

It is capable of doing complex movements like hand stands, cartwheels, punching, lying down prone, and standing up again on its own. It weighs 25 Kilos, and is about as tall as a smaller sized human.

I think this is an area we should be paying very special attention to. AI is getting all the hype, but it's unlikely to have a big effect on the outcome of a war. Being able to mass produce soldiers though? That's a game changer.

These robots would work in any terrain a human can once water proofed, and could be remotely piloted by human soldiers. Retrofitting them with weapons systems would be simple, and they could have armor plating added on so they could just stand under heavy fire and be fine. You'd need higher caliber rounds to take them out. (Exactly the things that the US is floundering to secure metals to make since China controls so much of the rare earth industry).

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that these could be the equivalent of the invention of the musket. If WW3 happens sometime in the next decade i expect the world to be shocked as it becomes clear war will never be the same again. It's like a countdown has begun where everyday we get closer to the moment one of these is first used in a peer conflict, and an arms race begins. One China already seems to be winning before it even starts.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

What would be the advantage of these robot over drones?

[–] Maeve@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 3 weeks ago

Ground war.

[–] Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Imagine your trying to like hold a position right. With these since they're ground based you can just sit them there in low-power mode, and wait. With an air based drone they have to land somewhere which can be hard to do for bigger drones. Then they have to take off again when an enemy shows up, reach altitude, etc. With these they just detect the enemy, and power up fully again in seconds.

[–] Horse@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

With an air based drone they have to land somewhere which can be hard to do for bigger drones

you can fit the functional parts of a rifle on a small quad copter, one that could land in a space a little larger than a dinner plate

Then they have to take off again when an enemy shows up, reach altitude, etc.

consumer quad copters can reach human head height in 1-2 seconds

a demonstration of how quick these things are: https://youtube.com/shorts/7lXEeqT9LnQ

With these they just detect the enemy, and power up fully again in seconds.

they will also be a human sized metal target that is standing dead still, easier to see than a landed drone from sheer size

[–] Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yes they are different. That's kind of the point. A quadcopter with a rifle on it can't hold a city. It can't even use a very high caliber weapon. The higher caliber weapons have a lot of knockback, and require a strong structure to absorb that. Which means you need a bigger body.

Nobody is saying quad copters don't have a use. But they can't do everything. You need infantry. Heavy infantry especially. A ground based robot could have a high caliber rifle, a shoulder mounted anti-air system for taking down quadcopters, carry 100's of pounds of ammo, and it uses a lot less energy when moving around per lbs of cargo.

A quadcopter is extremely weight limited, and energy limited. A ground based robot can have a massive battery, tons of ammo, heavier weaponry, etc. Longer time on mission, and can do indoor CQC. It can even engage in nonlethal missions where you need to find and capture a target alive. A quadcopter is best suited to supporting ground operations not replacing them.

[–] TankieReplyBot@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: