Russia Builds ATV-riding Combat Robot

Well if the Terminator movies have taught us anything, it’s that maybe sending out robots to do our fighting can backfire and not only destroy us as a species but flood pop culture with bad-accented quotes like, “I’ll be bock”.

Even still Russia seems willing to take its chances as indicated by a new combat robot prototype that has managed to perform a variety of human-like tasks including firing a handgun and riding an ATV!

Russian president Vladimir Putin recently visited the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering Tochmash in Moscow, where, after meeting the new combat android, he watched the machine take uh another machine out onto a track and put in some laps. Albeit slow and clumsy laps, but still, laps on an ATV nonetheless.

So why an ATV riding robot you ask? Well this particular unit was said to have been developed for use on the International Space Station but because this one is not yet autonomous, it’s very likely someone was controlling its actions remotely onsite. And let’s be honest here, if you need to impress a bunch of high ranking officials without access to space rockets and zero-gravity, there are few things as impacting as riding a quad to leave a lasting impression.

It must have worked too as, despite his stoic facial expression in the video clips, Putin was apparently quite impressed saying, “These advanced developments look really interesting. Sometimes like a sci-fi movie.”

The video can be seen here: