The even scarier part is that the average citizen will be able to purchase one. The company Throwflame, which sells flamethrowers exactly as its name suggests, has decided to make concerningly lifelike autonomous robot dogs even more concerning by giving them one of its products.
The Thermonator consists of one of Throwflame’s ARC Flamethrowers mounted to a Unitree Go1 quadruped robot. The flamethrower is capable of producing a 30-foot-long stream of flames for a maximum of 45 minutes. The Go1 can be operated either by a remote human operator or autonomously via cameras and sensors.
The Thermonator will reportedly be available for purchase sometime in the third quarter of this year, and interested parties can request to be added to an email waitlist to be notified when it becomes available. A price has not been released, although the Go1 costs between $2,700 and $3,500 and the ARC Flamethrower typically sells for $699 to $899, so a combination of the two will certainly cost a pretty penny. Hopefully that will help prevent a robot uprising led by fire-breathing robodogs.
What’s scarier than a human with a flamethrower?
Answer: An autonomous robot dog with a flamethrower.
Image courtesy of Throwflame (via website).
