The "2026 Taiwan-Japan Science and Technology Future Forum" debuted in Taipei today. The organizer, the Indo-Pacific Strategic Think Tank, arranged for a military-grade "four-legged robot dog" to be unveiled.
The robot is based on the Vision 60 platform developed by American company Ghost Robotics. It has been adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps, Army and Air Force, with more than 1,000 units delivered worldwide. In addition to its autonomous reconnaissance and search functions, this "robot dog" can also carry gunfire and strike, becoming an unmanned vehicle included in military exercises by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
In terms of hardware specifications, Vision 60 has an IP67 protection rating and can be immersed in one meter of water for 30 minutes without being affected. The operating temperature range covers minus 40 degrees to 55 degrees, which is enough to cope with extreme environments.
The fuselage is equipped with an NVIDIA Jetson control system and can carry a payload of 10 kilograms. It can continuously travel for more than 3 hours on a single charge, which is more advantageous than the approximately 90 minutes of similar products. Its modular design also allows failed robot legs to be replaced within 5 minutes, significantly improving equipment availability.
Wu Rongcan, deputy general manager of Anquanmeng Unmanned Systems Company, pointed out at the forum that the key to making the robot dog truly useful lies in the mission payload. Different equipment combinations will make the same platform capable of completely different tasks such as inspection, search and rescue, protection and detection.
Wu Rongcan mentioned that in terms of navigation and battery life, Vision 60 can be equipped with LiDAR, which has advanced obstacle avoidance functions. It can still autonomously patrol or plan routes in complex terrain when facing fixed or mobile obstacles; it can also accurately complete indoor or basement positioning even in environments without GPS signals.
In addition, when paired with a wireless cradle, the robot dog can return to charge autonomously, which not only helps reduce maintenance costs, but is also suitable for long-term and continuous safety monitoring tasks. It can be charged safely in various environments to prevent operators from being exposed to infection or contamination.
In terms of mechanical operation, the six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) robotic arm is flexible and easy to disassemble and assemble. It can open doors, pick up ammunition, and even open zippers. The arm has a clamping force of up to 11.3 kg and can pick up and move 3.75 kg of items. It is suitable for explosive disposal, disaster rescue and hazardous environment operations, and can reduce personnel risks in riot prevention and handling of suspicious items.
It is described that in terms of image perception, the low-light camera can produce clear images in dark conditions of 0.0001 lux, support environmental monitoring, search and rescue missions, wildlife observation and low-light environment navigation, and is designed to withstand impact, immersion and extreme conditions. The PTZ camera has 33x optical zoom, 360-degree pan rotation, 90-degree tilt control, and 255 sets of preset positions and cruise functions. It has a built-in infrared LED, and the night vision range can be up to 50 meters, and it can also operate in a completely dark environment.
In terms of security protection, Security Payload uses processed camera images for target detection and trajectory integration to achieve automated patrols and real-time monitoring. It also combines low light source and thermal imaging capabilities to capture clear images under harsh light. With LiDAR navigation, it can operate autonomously with or without GPS, and the AI image recognition function can also be applied to factory personnel management.
Wu Rongcan revealed that Vision 60 has been included in Japan's spring military exercises in the first quarter of this year, showing that quadruped robots have moved from the laboratory to practical applications. He emphasized that using unmanned vehicles to replace personnel to undertake some high-risk tasks can not only improve operational efficiency, but also effectively reduce personnel risks.
