Is this video of a huge drone hovering over a dog and blasting it with water adorable in its canine innocence? Is it dystopian in its implications? You’ll just have to decide for yourself.
The viral clip, purportedly filmed in China’s Linyi, Shandong province, is what’s promised on the tin. A quadcopter drone equipped with hoses attachments looms over a chunky little dog and sprays it with water, giving the fellow a little shower. The dog seems to be having a good time, letting itself get soaked and wagging its tail, before shaking itself off and plodding away. Fin.
“Nothing in millions of years of evolution has prepared this dog for this scenario,” quipped one jokester on Reddit.
Others’ minds immediately raced to darker implications.
“I can see some kind of version of this for crowd control with tear gas,” another mused.
According to the video aggregator Spectee (via ReutersConnect), the impromptu dog shower was a demonstration by a Chinese company — it’s unclear which — that develops drones for washing solar panels. We couldn’t independently verify the video’s origins, however.
There’s certainly a market for flying, photovoltaic panel cleaning machines in China. It’s the out-and-out leader in harnessing the power of the Sun, boasting nearly 1,300 gigawatts of solar capacity. Its largest solar farm, located on the Tibetan Plateau, stretches over 162 square miles.
Cleaning all that solar infrastructure poses a major logistical headache. Funky robots that roam on top of solar panels emerged as one solution, with some Chinese cities employing these robots to clean rooftop installations. Scientists, meanwhile, are working on a self-cleaning coating that could be applied to the panels.
Is hosing down solar panels with an army of drones the most practical solution? Would it be a waste of water? Perhaps if the drones could moonlight for an on-demand dog shower service, the tradeoff would be worth it.
More on drones: Surveillance-Happy Police In Shambles After Trump Tariffs Makes Drones Absurdly Expensive
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