(NewsNation) — New video footage out of China shows a machine gun-mounted robotic dog, in what appears to be the country’s latest private military project.

The mechanical K-9 can reportedly be transported and deployed by drone and is programmed to identify, track and take out targets.

While the advanced technology is indeed an improvement on traditional man-to-man combat, it also leaves more room for error, as it could be much harder to know who to blame if civilians are killed unnecessarily — especially because these systems can operate much differently in a controlled environment than in an active battlefield.

Braden Allenby, an engineering teacher at Arizona State University, told NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” Thursday that a key question with this new technology is whether a human is controlling the actions of the weapon or if the weapon is programmed to act on its own.

He said while a lot of attention is paid to weapons that have a spark of science fiction, there is a tendency to overlook technologies that may not grab headlines but have a broader impact.

“Russia attacking, for example, the grid in Ukraine is probably of far more importance than a robot in a battle space that’s a traditional, conventional battle space,” Allenby said.

Allenby went on to say Western militaries are aware these types of weapons exist, and are capable of handling them.

Watch the video here.