Bluey captivates the Henty crowd with his robotic antics

A robotic dog dubbed Bluey danced, sat, begged and even shook a paw, captivating visitors around the Henty Machinery Field Days whilst spreading the message on defence force recruitment.

Based at the army logistics training centre at Bandiana, Major Graham Anderson and Bluey were supporting the defence recruiting team to engage the public on career opportunities.

“Bluey is a robotic dog mainly used for research and development on robotics and programming capability. It is about integrating robotics and automation into the way we do our daily business,” Major Anderson said. 

Major Anderson said Bluey drew much positive feedback from field day visitors.

They were encouraged to visit the Australian Defence Force Careers site where there was an infantry carrier, Bushmaster, on display along with high performance vehicles, and a helicopter simulator.

“We are a big part of the community at Albury-Wodonga and Wagga Wagga, so we like to feel that we are home grown,” Major Anderson said. 

“Age is no longer an issue when it comes to a career in the defence forces – if you can finish your training before you hit retirement age, we would be keen to have a chat to you. People over 50 have a lot of skills and we can use those, and it is a very diverse work environment these days.”