On Monday, April 12, 2021, a group of New York policemen raided an apartment building in the upscale neighborhood of Manhattan, accompanied by a robot dog weighing about 32 kilograms equipped with lights and cameras. When the police came out of the building and people saw the robot dog, many of them panicked and considered it an example of police violence.
On April 22 of the same year, in response to people's concerns, the New York Police Department terminated the $94,000 lease of this robot dog with Boston Dynamics, its manufacturer.
Experts attribute people's panic to the many movies and TV series that featured robotic dogs as villains stalking their victims, such as the dog that appeared in the Metalhead episode of the Black Mirror TV series, which first aired on Netflix in 2017. The robot dog more than one person, then chases the heroine (Bella) equipped with weapons supported by LiDAR technology to determine the coordinates of the target by sending laser beams.
The story of the robotic dogs did not end there. Less than a year later, the New York City Fire Department began using Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dog to aid in difficult search and rescue operations, in a much less controversial application than the NYPD's use of this. Kind of dogs during raids.
Several months ago, the Portland Air National Guard brought in a robotic dog to help with security, which has the ability to monitor video as well as conduct ground patrols in rough terrain and jump over objects in the road, and is equipped with a 7-hour battery. This robot dog is controlled remotely by technicians, but work is currently underway to prepare it so that it can take the initiative and control itself without human guidance.
The United States is currently testing a robotic dog that it intends to use to protect its border with Mexico and reduce the infiltration of smugglers, terrorists and illegal immigrants.
This robot dog weighs 45 kilograms and can traverse all types of terrain, as well as human-built environments such as stairs. Various devices can be added to this robot such as thermal cameras, night vision goggles, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear sensors.
Honolulu police, the capital of the state of Hawaii, spent about $150,000 to buy robotic dogs to enter camps for the homeless and take body temperature checks, to ensure they are free of diseases, especially the Covid-19 virus.
