Dystopian robot dogs are the latest in a long history of US-Mexico border surveillance

Activists have argued that the tools in use - drones and towers equipped with night vision and radar - make the region dangerous to migrants

When the United States' Department of Homeland Security announced in early February it was training quadruped robot dogs" to help secure the US-Mexico border, the department's spokesperson described the nearly 2,000-mile region as an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there".

But, of course, people do live, work, and try to eke out a living in this inhospitable" desert space - leaving one to question what, exactly, the robot dog is meant to excel at?