What has four legs and can breathe fire? Apparently the Thermonator, a controversial “first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog”.
According to Throwflame, an Ohio-based company that manufactures flamethrowers, its latest invention features a 30ft firing range, light detection and range mapping, as well as laser sighting, aboard a battery-powered thing with legs that can jump around.
Touted as “your ultimate firepower companion”, the robot’s uses include wildlife control and prevention, agricultural management, ecological conservation, and snow and ice removal, as well as entertainment and special effects, Throwflame said.
For just $9,420 and in the absence of a pet dragon, you can have your own fire-breathing best friend of canine appearance.
However, not everyone is onboard.
Following reports of the Thermonator’s release, some people were swift to mock the innovation on social media with comments such as “Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.”
Another person said: “Guess I’m the only one who watched that Black Mirror episode,” in apparent reference to the 2017 episode Metalhead from the television series Black Mirror which explores the consequences of new technologies. In the episode, a woman attempts to survive a post-apocalyptic world overrun with deadly robot dogs.
Another user wrote: “Cool. Will the owners be held liable when this inevitably starts wildfires? Or sets their neighbors’ house on fire?”
Currently, flamethrowers are legal across the US, except in Maryland, where they are considered a “destructive device”.
Under Maryland’s state law, destructive devices mean explosive, incendiary or toxic material that is combined with a delivery or detonating apparatus so as to be capable of inflicting injury to persons or damage to property. They also include devices that have been deliberately modified, containerized or otherwise equipped with a special delivery, activation or detonation component that gives the material destructive characteristics of a military ordnance.
Meanwhile in California, residents are required to obtain a permit if they wish to possess a flamethrower that has a firing range of more than 10ft, CNN reported.
