Digidog, the remote-controlled four-legged robotic the New York Police Department released in 2020 and 2021, is being restored, The New York Times reports(Opens in a new window).
At a press conference(Opens in a new window) in Times Square previously today revealing the $750,000 transfer to get 2 of the robotic authorities assistants, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said “Digidog is out of the pound.”
Speaking about the Digidog re-enlistment, which has actually been assaulted by civil liberties and authorities guard dogs, Adams said it can “save lives.” The mayor included: “I believe that technology is here; we cannot be afraid of it. A few loud people were opposed to it, we took a step back [but] that is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what’s best for the city.”
The robodogs, likewise called Spot, will apparently just be utilized in hazardous circumstances like bomb risks, and examinations in difficult locations that position a threat to the lives of law enforcement officer. Its maker, Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics, nevertheless, markets it as a public safety tool that might be utilized in varied circumstances.
As The Verge notes(Opens in a new window)the NYPD last utilized the Digidog in 2021 throughout a home intrusion in order to learn what was taking place inside the broken into house. The NYPD likewise utilized it in 2020 for reconnaissance in a circumstance where a shooter was barricaded inside a building. In August 2021, the New York Police Department canceled its Digidog trial after being on the getting end of extreme criticism from civil liberties groups.
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That criticism continues today. In a public statement(Opens in a new window) knocking the transfer to renew the robotic dogs, Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), said: “The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing. New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff robocop. Wasting public dollars to invade New Yorkers’ privacy is a dangerous police stunt.”
In more possibly shocking news, the NYPD even more revealed it would pilot a portable or car-mounted robotic launcher that shoots GPS tags onto cars associated with an authorities chase. The Times likewise said the police would pilot a “fully autonomous outdoor security robot” called K5 ASR in order to gather intelligence.
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