https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QJJBN2hGI

I wonder how long it took to create this script and how much it was don't virtually without the machine, and how much of it was done directly with the machine.

These are glorious self balancing machines that have perfected the challenging AI task of physical motion. It is important to remember though, that they have no understanding of what they are doing, and the amount of work to create this dance number was mind boggling.

I could see these things dropped in a battle field, given waypoints, and objectives to shoot anything that looks humanoid or moves. They'd be dumb as dirt, but still very dangerous. It makes me want to think up what countermeasures would be effective ... false targets, traps they can't handle that humans have no trouble with, body shape camo, etc. Then there is the difficult task of taking them out as shooting at them would be marginally effective.

Other fun bits would be that they would be cheaper built and more mass produced in a war setting, but power consumption would always be a thing for them. The walking robot probably would keel over at 20 min, where the wheeled one could go much longer, but have a tougher time with rough terrain. Then there is the cost/benefit of using these vs just bombing an area. Bombs would be cheaper, so maybe this would be more of a semi-autonomous thing that went with a group of troops and kills would be more guided, and built around securing an area but without total destruction.

Communications with the devices would be key, so having soldiers close by and in the loop would be important. And of course, this tech, while impressive, will be easily replicated over time. It'll be interesting to see how forces fight against each other. Probably going after the living soldiers controlling the machines would be more effective then having machines just slug it out with each other, but then, having further tele-presense would be better, and then you come back to the distance => easier signal interference.

The paper-rock-sissors of future wars will be fascinating to those don't have to be in the thick of them.