Android Gunslinger

Russia’s gun toting robot has hit a major snag: it’s scrambling for parts after foreign suppliers cut off sales, Defense One reports.

In 2017, videos went viral of the Terminator-like android dubbed FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) firing handguns at a variety of targets. Apparently foreign suppliers weren’t impressed — leaving the robot’s maker, Android Technology, scrambling for parts.

“After some of our partners… saw that the robot ‘FEDOR’ had learned to shoot, we were denied supplies,” technical director of the robot company Evgeny Dudorov told state media RIA in an interview, as interpreted by Google Translate.

Made in Russia

According to Dudorov, 40 percent of FEDOR’s components are made in Russia. But the company is aiming for a higher proportion.

“Russia will develop its own systems as a result of this export ban, but that may take some time,” Dudorov told RIA. “This announcement also demonstrates that despite the sanctions, the Russian high-tech industry was still able to get what it needed.”

According to the interview, FEDOR cost “much less” to develop than the $18 million that Boston Dynamics spent on its own humanoid, parkour-performing robot Atlas.

Space Terminator

The second iteration of FEDOR might also end up going to space on board a Russian spacecraft in the near future, Sputnik News reported back in March 2018. The so-called Federatsiya spacecraft is meant to carry astronauts to low earth orbit along with FEDOR-2 — but when or if the launch will take place is still uncertain.

When asked if Fedor could one day travel on board a Soyuz to the ISS, Dudorov did not have a clear answer.

“This issue is in discussion,” Dudorov told RIA. “If a decision is made within Roscosmos to conduct such a flight and a technical possibility appears for its implementation, then, in principle, we are ready to fulfill this task.”

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