Technology Today : Drone That Shoots you With 80,000 Volts

Hello all. Hope you have had a great weekend wherever you may be in the world! Today we will take a look at the future of robot security.

With the release of the new RoboCop movie this new article is quite scary. Meet CUPID, a drone that can identify you as an intruder and can shoot you with an 80,000 volt taser (or pepper balls if you’re feeling kind). I personally haven’t seen the movie, RoboCop (or the old one), but I understand that the future of the police force in America has robots patrolling the street making the streets safe. CUPID really doesn’t seem to different to the robots in the movie (of course the size or the fact that it looks nothing like it, but you get the point).

Created by Chaotic Moon in Austin, Texas CUPID (Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone) acts as police officer (possibly a little harsher). The drone is fully autonomous which can identify you as an intruder warning you to stop where you are before it shoots with you a taser. If you try to get up CUPID will continue to pump volts of electricity into you whilst calling the authorities.

Lets take an example of an intruder and how CUPID deals with them. When someone walks onto your property he will activate motion sensors waking CUPID and flies over to get a visual of the person. CUPID notifies you via smartphone and sends you a picture of the person. If it is not an intruder you can tell CUPID to return to it’s post. However if it is an intruder you can tell CUPID intercept the intruder. CUPID tells the intruder to leave, or you can also speak via CUPID to the intruder telling them yourself. If the intruder leaves CUPID returns to it’s post but if the intruder keeps walking, CUPID will shoot them with an 80,000 volt taser. The authorities will then be notified. You can see a video here.

As well as CUPID Chaotic Moon are also working on other drones. There is an oil and gas drone that can remotely inspect gas and pipelines and check for leaks via a thermal camera. Another drone that they are working on can also send out EMP pulses destroying paparazzi drones from spying on people (probably not going to be for the average joe but still pretty cool).

CUPID is also fitted a GoPro Hero 3 camera and can also be flown with virtual reality goggles, allowing the user to see the POV of the drone. As you can see in the picture, CUPID looks quite similar to some of the drones you see at toy stores or on amazon which really makes me think about the consequences of this incredible new technology.

So far this technology is in safe possession but what happens if some “bad guys” get a hold of CUPID and possibly fit it with guns? If any of you have seen or played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or Killzone: Shadow Fall you’ll remember the drones you have control of allowing you to shoot other players/bots via drone. Through CUPID this video game idea may come alive. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of this new technology but if it comes into commercial use I think it is imperative that it stays in the hands of the “good guys” otherwise there may be serious consequences.