Lately, the United States Navy is getting all the cool toys. Just last week, they revealed that their fancy laser cannon is essentially fully operational and capable of blowing things up real good. And now, they’re rolling out their robot shark.
As reported by Wired, it’s been given the moniker GhostSwimmer, which is less than reassuring, and is essentially the Navy’s response to the Predator drone. It’s designed to swim just like a fish, and it’s surprisingly mobile. It can swim in depths ranging from ten inches to 300 feet, and doesn’t need to be tethered. Oh, and being that it’s the size of a tuna and looks like it belongs in the ocean, spotting the GhostSwimmer is a fairly tricky proposition.
The good news is that it’s not armed, so far. The Navy views it as a robot for reconnaissance, surveillance, inspecting ships for damage, and other somewhat creepy but not Terminator-ish tasks. It will also replace the adorable animals the Navy currently uses to find and trigger explosives, which is a plus. I think we can all agree that blowing up dolphins is not an ideal use of taxpayer dollars.
That said, it’s really only a matter of time before the Navy realizes they can have robot sharks with laser beams in their heads swimming through the ocean. So, yeah, when we take to boats to thwart the robot armies that want to enslave us, quickly we will discover that not even the ocean is safe. Good job, Navy scientists.