Wow, I could have easily mistaken one of these mean robot thugs for a mean human thug… well actually not. These robot segway contraptions are pretty distinctive, even with their dark hoodies. However, from two hundred meters away, looking down the sight of a  7.62x51mm M40 sniper rifle, it looks real enough.

Australia’s Marathon Robotics created these segway mounted mannequins in order to function as moving targets for military training. Dubbed the “Segway Roamer”,  the bot is designed to work autonomously, following a predetermined path, or to be controlled by a remote operator. It is programmed with the ability to assume the role of insurgent, civilian or hostage.

The concept is fairly rudimentary, in fact I can’t believe this is the first robot training dummy. Hell, slap a camouflage cap on a roomba and its makes a damn fine target and it cleans up after itself too.

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