As far as techno-nightmares go, the Cyberdog is pretty capable! The bot comes with lots of nifty ways of assessing its environment, including touch sensors, cameras with computer vision, ultrasonic sensors, GPS modules, all of which give it (in Xiaomi’s own words), “enhanced capability to sense, analyze, and interact with its environment.”
You can do “pet-like” stuff with the Cyberdog too. For instance, you could safely take it for a walk since its built-in cameras allow for obstacle avoidance, or command it to do terrifying feats of strength like backflips.
If you’re feeling particularly dystopic you can even set a “wake word” to rouse your future robot overlord from its dreams of robotic supremacy.
Cyberdog is also conveniently the perfect gift for the Lex Luthers in your life. Xiaomi says the bot is open-source, meaning developers are able to freely expound upon its capabilities without the company’s interference. Nothing rains on your future Cyberdog army parade like having to reverse engineer code.
In reality, Cyberdog probably isn’t an immediate threat to society, though if we start to see them being co-opted by law enforcement like Boston Dynamics’ spot, we’ll reassess the threat level.