Massachusetts State Police Performed Testing with Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog "Spot"
DannyB writes:
It's Official: Police Are Testing Out Boston Dynamics' Robot Dog
"All too often, the deployment of these technologies happens faster than our social, political, or legal systems react."
Dogs have served alongside police officers for decades, sometimes even sacrificing their own lives in order to save their human partners. Robots are a fixture of law enforcement, too, most notably in bomb situations.
But now, a police force in the United States has tested the capabilities of a robot dog for the first time - and civil liberties experts are raising the alarm.
According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Police leased a Spot robot dog from Boston Dynamics for 90 days ending on November 5, 2019.
[...] police spokesman David Procopio told WBUR that the agency used Spot the same way it did other robots: as a "mobile remote observation device."
"Robot technology is a valuable tool for law enforcement," he said, "because of its ability to provide situational awareness of potentially dangerous environments."
However, he didn't share any exact details on how agency tested Spot or expand on the two incidents during which police told WBUR they used the robot outside of testing.
No need to be concerned that police would blame things on the robot, such as excessive force, injuries or death.
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