American streamer and YouTuber Darren Watkins Jr., known by the nickname iShowSpeed, became a participant in a curious incident when a robot dog with a flamethrower unexpectedly “attacked” him live. The video was broadcast on the official iShowSpeed YouTube channel.
During the stream, iShowSpeed controlled the bot by giving it various commands. The robot did them without objection, until the streamer tried to “bark” imitating the sounds of a dog. In response to this, the robot unexpectedly shot a flamethrower in the direction of the blogger. Surprised and scared, iShowSpeed quickly rushed to the pool, trying to avoid the fire while ordering the work to stop. Despite the calls, the robot fired a few more shots of fire in the direction of the pool, after which it turned off.
Before this incident, iShowSpeed conducted an unboxing of the robot, noting that it cost him $100,000. However, attentive viewers quickly found out that it is a Thermonator model, created on the basis of the Chinese robot Unitree Go2 and a flamethrower from the American company Throwflame. The cost of such a robot is $9,420, according to Throwflame’s official website.
The site says Thermonator is first-person shooter (FPV), and there’s no mention of an offline mode. This suggests that a human was controlling the robot during the stream, and the entire incident was part of a staged show.
