Every kid needs a dog. A flame throwing dog.
So, I was getting ready to go to work the other morning. I had the TV on, kind of watching the news while I'm getting dressed, and this story came on about a flamethrowing robot dog. Needless to say, I was riveted. Then I started thinking about it. Wait a minute. Who's gonna’ use this and what are they going to use it for? Check out the video.
One of the things that's fascinating about this is it looks like the dog is a Boston Dynamics robot dog, but they don't mention Boston Dynamics anywhere. All they talk about is a company that manufactures the flamethrower that attaches to it. The price for the whole package, by the way, is just a little bit under $10,000.
Now there's part of me that says, “this is cool” and then there's another part of me that says, “this can only end in tears”. A few years back Tesla came out with at flamethrower, when he was asked why sell a flamethrower Elon Musk said, "because they are bad ass!" What could be more "bad Ass" than a robot dog with lasers and a flamethrower?
The company that has created this thing is from Cleveland, it's called Throwflame and their product is called The Thermonator.
according to dispatch.com,
“According to Throwflame, the Thermonator has a 30-foot range, with a one-hour battery life and is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. Its uses include wildlife control, agricultural management, ecological conservation, snow and ice removal, as well as entertainment and special effects.”
I'm racking my brain trying to think of some practical use for this thing and the only thing I can come up with is possibly using it to fight brush fires. The practical problem with this is that it only has a one-hour battery, I would think it would need a little more life than that.
If nothing else comes from this article, at least now you know what you can get that pyromaniac in your life that has everything. For their birthday.
One last thing, Apparently, it's legal in 48 states.
Watch as Ohio company's robot dog flamethrower shoots fire in the woods (dispatch.com)
You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000 | Ars Technica