Boston Dynamics Is Hoping Robot Dogs Are Less Creepy While Fighting Fires

“ Spot , ” the nascent Terminator on four legs manufacture by Skynet , er , I mean , Boston Dynamics , has landed its next public safety gig : fire fighter .

The New York Timesreportsthat the metropolis ’s attack department has procured two of the $ 75,000 quadruped and plans to deploy them “ now and then , ” leverage them in especially unsafe situations where it ’s harder for human responders to deploy . The first fire agency in the country to do so , the FDNY want to use the “ click ” on punic search and rescue missions , where they will allegedly help relay important situational data point back to responder .

“ I look forward to a positive and productive conversation with F.D.N.Y. leaders to ensure these robotic ‘ dog ’ are only being used on rarefied , specialized , juncture with a finish of protecting our residents and first respondent , ” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson , in a statement provided to the newspaper .

Photo: Alejandro Martinez Velez/Europa Press (Getty Images)

If this all voice very familiar it ’s because we ’ve been here before , albeit with a unlike metropolis federal agency . Back in early 2021 , the Timesreportedthat the New York Police Department would be one of the first constabulary agency in the country to deploy Spot ( which the NYPD had renamed “ Digidog ” ) for selective jurisprudence enforcement missions .

And yet , only a few months into Digidog ’s land tenure , the Timesreportedthat public backlash had forced the NYPD to return the mechanical canine to its kennel at Boston Dynamics . Adjectives like “ creepy ” and “ dystopian ” had dogged the unfortunate product , and , as it turned out , a passel of New Yorkers were uncomfortable with the mind of a quasi - sentient golem stalking around their neck of the woods — specially one that could quiteeasily be equippedwith a remote - control gun turret .

Now , Boston Dynamics seems to be hoping that New Yorkers will find their metallic contraption more digestible if it ’s assisting a unlike public office — one with a decidedly betterreputation .

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But privacy advocates revere that deploying the robo - Rover — even in a limited capability — could fall with a lot of new concerns over how exactly it ’ll be used . In an email to Gizmodo , Albert Fox Cahn , founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project , all but called the blackguard an expensive , invasive toy dog , one that might never actually get out of the garage .

“ This is a costly surveillance thingumajig that New Yorkers never needed , and it ’s unclear if this latest doggy monotone will ever be used , ” Cahn recite Gizmodo . “ The FDNY rank and file have been calling for a pay hike , not new surveillance technical school , ” he added . Cahn also worries that data collect by the automaton could fall into the hands of other agencies : “ While I ’m more prepared to trust the FDNY with new surveillance gear , there ’s nothing to halt the NYPD from take the data it collect , ” he said . “ At most , information from other city agencies is just a Margaret Court order away from the NYPD , and often they only have to require . If the FDNY want to have its surveillance technical school treat differently , then we require veridical protections against NYPD access to that information . ”

you’re able to for sure see the appeal of having robots do grievous , dirty work so that humankind do n’t have to . But care over whether these dogs will just become creepy spies seems legitimate , pass on that we once view drones to be a startling , incursive technology and now you ca n’t go to a public green without own one wizard by your head , take you as it goes . We reached out to the New York Fire Department for comment on its recent litter of robots but a spokesperson said nobody was immediately available for comment .

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