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Whilst robotics in police work is becoming common, using a robot dog has become a national first for the Massachusetts State Department.
Boston Dynamics’ robot dog first came to light in a viral video released in 2015, which showed the dog able to climb stairs and run uphill.
Since then, the company have been working on the design to a point that it was available for select customers to buy in September of this year.
One of the customers? The Massachusetts State Police Department.
Now, you may be thinking that the police are dangerous enough on their own, without the help of a movie-apocalypse-style robot to help them out, and you would be right. But the police department leased the dog – which they’ve named him ‘Spot’, as if that will make him any less terrifying – for three months in September. Now in November, as their lease ends, it is at least a comfort that the world hasn’t ended in chaos just yet.
Spot was used primarily in the bomb squad, the thinking being that the robot could approach hazards first instead of a human.
The ACLU were the ones to release the news to the public, feeling the secrecy around the police force’s use of Spot wasn’t right. Whilst Spot was being used on the bomb squad, there were fears of Spot being used in harmful ways against the public.
Boston Dynamics have been very clear that Spot should not be used for such purposes, but in such a new field, regulations are small and uncertain.
