WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 JUNE 22: Gavin Kenneally, Chief Executive Officer at Ghost Robotics speaks as Vision 60 UGV walks in during a House hearing at the US Capitol on June 22, 2023 in Washington, DC. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation met to discuss the use of technology at the US Border, airports and military bases. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The executive responded, \u201cThe use case for the robots at the border is to collect data. You can either look for illegal drug trafficking by adding sensors to detect for that, or you can add infrared or thermal cameras, which let you pick up human or other animals\u2019 thermal signatures. The robot is really a detection system, which will then actually be used to save lives. There\u2019s hundreds of deaths every year from drowning or getting stuck trying to cross the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2021, the Philly-based startup made national headlines when images emerged of one of its robots sporting a remote-controlled sniper rifle designed by a company called SWORD. At the time, then-CEO Jiren Parikh told TechCrunch the system was a \u201cwalking tripod\u201d in reference to the company\u2019s apparent hands-off approach to payload \u2014 weaponized or otherwise.<\/p>\n

The subject of weaponization briefly came up during the hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A]s the world progresses into stages that could be going to more wars \u2014 especially given the Ukraine and Russian war that\u2019s going on right now \u2014 I\u2019d like to ask each of you how we can make sure that we prevent any types of technologies or robotics like this to ever be used as weapons against people,\u201d Greene said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s extremely important. Again, it\u2019s not weaponizing technology we want to see happen ever, and I would like to see countries around the world make agreements to this, especially with emerging incredible inventions. We don\u2019t want to see them turned into something that would kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Georgia congresswoman didn\u2019t ask the question directly, however, instead pivoting to one about preventing cybersecurity attacks.<\/p>\n