Robot Dogs Are Remarkably Easy To Defeat Thanks To These Weak Spots

Twitter user @LenKusov actually published a list of all the ways you could thwart the robot dog and it’s actually pretty pathetic how easy it is.

You can take your pick out of the following: pressing its completely unguarded and easy to access power button; ripping out its battery; shooting it; or even just throwing a blanket over the top of it to block its optical signal. A WiFI jammer would serve the same purpose if you’re baller enough to have one on your person and it’s also worth noting that the battery life on one of them isn’t that long, so if you just hide for a while then it will probably end up running out of juice.

More: Twitter h/t: sickchirpse

Here’s some more detailed information about each one of those points:

According to @LenKusov: “PSA: if you or someone nearby are being brutalized by a police Spot robot and can get a hand or something underneath, grab this handle and yank it forward. This releases the battery, instantly disabling the robot.

Keep your hands away from joints, Spot WILL crush your fingers.”

“If you are a bystander and can get BEHIND spot, don’t hit the power button, hit the OTHER button – it physically disconnects the motors.”

“Spot can also be countered with booby traps easily.”

“If you’re armed, shoot center-of-mass as normal. The lithium pack is huge and not armored”

“Spot is also purely optical, meaning paint, dust, a sheet or blanket, sticky tape, etc can severely impair it.”

“Original stereo cameras on the face. 360 camera, pan/tilt/zoom cam, and LIDAR rangefinders on accessory rails.”

“If you’re feeling creative, and can prepare beforehand, Spot is literally just controlled with an Android tablet. In manual (as in, non-autonomous) mode, Spot is literally just communicating over Wifi.”

“A WiFi jammer based on an ESP2866 is $40 on Amazon, just sayin.”

“Ostensibly, Spot was never meant to see combat – at least the current iteration of it.

There is, of course, military versions in the works that probably get rid of most of these vulnerabilities but police departments are buying the civilian ones just cause they can.”

“The quick-change batteries, safety cutout, wifi control, etc make plenty of sense for the ADVERTISED usage cases of disaster recovery, warehousing, power plant maintenance, HAZMAT, EOD, etc as this isn’t even supposed to get within 2 meters of anyone while running.”