For years, the police force have used animals to help bring criminals to justice but none more so than everyone’s favourite (you can’t not like dogs, come on) animal, dogs. Traits such as the strength, intelligence, teachability and obedience of dogs have made them particularly cut out for the role. In fact, dogs have been used by law enforcement agencies around the world for over 100 years!
That being said, with the dawn of a new decade perhaps comes the dawn of a new era in the police K9 unit. It turns out that the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad actually quietly leased a robot dog between August and November this year. The Spot robot dog, produced by Boston Dynamics, an American robotics company, was apparently used as a “mobile remote observation device” to keep watch over suspicious devices and dangerous locations. On top of that, according to the police, Spot also saw use in two real world incidents.
Spot was first showed off to the world at TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics by the Head of Boston Dynamics Marc Raibert back in April. During the presentation, Spot was shown in a number of real world scenarios, where it demonstrated how it could potentially be used to help get human officers out of harm’s way during a terrorist or hostage situation.
This quiet testing of robotic dogs has stirred quite the controversy. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has raised concerns about how exactly the police intends to use this technology.
“There is a lot we do not know about how and where these robotics systems are currently deployed in Massachusetts. All too often, the deployment of these technologies happens faster than our social, political, or legal systems react.
We urgently need more transparency from government agencies, who should be upfront with the public about their plans to test and deploy new technologies. We also need statewide regulations to protect civil liberties, civil rights, and racial justice in the age of artificial intelligence.”
ACLU Massachusetts’ Technology for Liberty Program Director Kade Crockford
Much of the concern appears to be around whether or not the police will be weaponizing these robot dogs. Back in 2016, Police in Dallas attracted controversy when they used a bomb diffusal robot to kill a shooter by equipping it with a bomb and sending it straight at the shooters direction (Lets not go into the irony of it all).
This is a rather precarious situation because it combines human beings general distrust for technology with American’s distrust for law enforcement officials. There are fears that police could weaponise these robot dogs without letting the public know.
That however, is highly unlikely. Boston Dynamics has explained in a statement to Gizmodo that its licence forbids Spot from any sort of task that would harm or intimidate people. Top this off with the fact that the company leases its robots instead of selling them for the sole reason of having the ability to pull access if customers break the terms of the lease and it actually sounds like a safe bet.
What do you guys think; should we just stick to good ol’ fashioned ‘comes with a heartbeat’ dogs or are robo dogs the way forward?
