Some ideas are so enchanting that it's easy to overlook small but frightfully important details.
When first seen in the wild, the LS3 robot dogs created by Google-owned Boston Dynamics seemed like they could be very useful dogs of war.
The mere sight of them on the battlefield ought to be enough to scare the enemy. Beyond that, the techno-canines could carry equipment and perform other onerous tasks.
It seems, though, that these robo-dogs have one small problem: Like quite a few real dogs, they make too much noise.
As Kyle Olson, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, told Military.com, the Marines drew the line at "the limitations of the robot itself. They took it as it was: A loud robot that's going to give away their position."
This has caused them to be retired before they had a chance to become regular members of battle squads.