This seemingly futuristic question has now surfaced in the real world, as robotic dogs have begun appearing on short video platforms across China, with one video receiving more than 700,000 likes.
Wu Xiangyu, a Shanghai resident, is the owner of a robotic dog. Walking the dog in his spare time has become a regular habit, he told Thepaper.cn.
In Shanghai, the Xuhui district waterfront is considered the best place for walking with dogs. On a December day, 2021, Wu chose to walk his robot dog for the first time.
A crowd gathers to see the robot dog in Shanghai.
As soon as it appeared, the robot attracted a lot of curious passers-by. People even take their dogs to meet the robot dog, wanting to introduce their pet to a "new friend".
However, Wu said that real dogs appeared to be more aggressive than their owners, first approaching and then retreating, barking fiercely as if to protect themselves from the unknown.
Wu's pet robot dog is named Cyberdog and was developed by Xiaomi. The product was launched in August 2021.
The dog can run, turn left and right, greet people and do the dog handshake. It can even roll over, an action that not all dogs can do.
According to Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree, a company that also develops robotic dogs, they can be used as guide dogs.
Robot dogs don't look like real dogs, and some say they have no emotions
While robots are now a niche high-tech toy, there could be ethical and legal dilemmas if they become more common. For example, a dog's movement is largely dependent on the camera in its eye, so how does this apply to privacy? Currently, China does not have a law regulating robotic pets.
While robot dogs are convenient - when Wu turns on the "auto-follow" feature, the dog walks right behind him, without a leash, without a lead. It can't replace the companionship of real dogs.
One key difference is that the robot dogs don't look like real dogs. The body is bare, and it looks more like a robot than a dog. Most of the time, its behavior is determined by the owner's remote control, not artificial intelligence.
One netizen said: "It won’t make you feel like having a real dog. With a real dog, you can feel the connection.”
Another replied: “This dog has no soul, no eyes, not even a tail; You are simply happy to have a dog wagging its tail at you. "
