Ever since the debut of the Angel and the Shocker, paintballers have been adding electronics and functionality to their markers.  A case in point is seen in the image above, one of many different "autonomous sentry guns" using cameras. motion sensors, motorized mounts and paintball guns.  No doubt you've seen videos.

A couple of years ago, an art collective named MSCHF purchased one of Boston Dynamics  (a leader in robotic design) SPOT robots, mounted a Tippmann Model 98 to it and hooked it up to the internet so that users could remotely control the robot and fire the paintball gun at art objects in a gallery.

SPOT has been used by various police agencies for "dangerous" situations.  The robot was recently re-deployed in New York City following citizen protest that had taken it off the street.

MSCHF's project was designed to demonstrate how "dangerous" SPOT could be (Boston Dynamics was not pleased).  After all, robots are a menace to society...just like paintball.

Fortunately for Boston Dynamics, SPOT failed at its mission of art harassment, with the robot falling over and unable to right itself after a short while.

Now while it is true that fully autonomous weapon systems could very well pose a threat if they go rogue (a partially autonomous artillery piece in South Africa did so, killing several soldiers and injuring others), the idea of paintball-playing robots, coupled with Artificial Intelligence learning systems could  pose a serious threat to the careers of professional ballers.  While the initial investment of fielding a team would be high (SPOTs cost 75K each), you'd quickly recoup that investment by not having to feed, cloth, house and transport the team (you could UPS the team to the event).  You'd also probably save on paint and air, cause these robots can be hella accurate.

That probably won't happen all that soon.  In the meantime, you can enjoy this video of SPOT rampaging through the art gallery -