The Massachusetts State Police claim one of the members of its bomb squad has gone above and beyond in the line of duty and taken bullets for the team. However, the officer in question is not a human or even a canine, but rather “Roscoe,” the police’s specialized robot dog created by Boston Dynamics.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the Massachusetts State Police said that Roscoe, a nickname for Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, accompanied the department’s bomb squad in early March to respond to a situation involving an armed barricaded suspect. Roscoe was sent into a home in Barnstable in Cape Cod along with two PackBot 510s, often used for bomb disposal and reconnaissance, to help police locate the suspect.
Roscoe, which was operated by a human trooper via remote control, was first sent to clear the top two floors of the home. The robot dog allegedly ran into trouble when it went down to inspect the basement, where it encountered the suspect armed with a rifle. Police say the suspect proceeded to knock the robot down and then started climbing the stairs. He was apparently unaware that the Boston Dynamics robot could pick itself back up and had started to follow him up the stairs.
“When the suspect realized, with apparent surprise, that Roscoe was behind him on the stairs, he again knocked the robot over and then raised his rifle in the Roscoe’s direction. The robot suddenly lost communications,” the Massachusetts State Police said. “The Troopers would later discover that Roscoe had been shot three times by the suspect and had been rendered inoperable.”
Roscoe wasn’t the only robot shot at. The suspect also attempted to shoot one of the PackBot 510s but missed, the department said. Authorities went on to introduce tear gas into the house with the barricaded subject, who turned himself in shortly afterward.
Rocoe’s performance during the incident impressed his human coworkers, who announced the incident on Facebook with the following headline: “ROBOT DOG ‘ROSCOE’ TAKES BULLETS FOR HIS HUMAN LAW ENFORCEMENT PARTNERS IN BARNSTABLE INCIDENT.”
Despite the glowing review from the Massachusetts State Police, the use of Boston Dynamics’ Spot by police departments has not been without controversy. In recent years, the NYPD came under criticism from advocacy groups and the public for its use of Spot, with some stating that the department could use the robot for surveillance of its citizens, especially people of color. Others stated that it represented the “militarization of the police.”
“[R]obotic surveillance ground drones are being deployed for testing on low-income communities of color with under-resourced schools,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, said in a post on X in February 2021. “Please ask yourself: when was the last time you saw next-generation, world class technology for education, healthcare, housing, etc consistently prioritized for underserved communities like this?”
The NYPD terminated its leasing contract with Boston Dynamics over the pushback from the public in April 2021. However, New York City Mayor Eric Adams reversed the decision in 2023, saying that the use of Spot in the city could “save lives,” The Verge reported.
“I believe that technology is here; we cannot be afraid of it,” Adams said, according to The Verge. “A few loud people were opposed to it, and we took a step back — that is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what’s best for the city.”
Police took the fallen Roscoe to Boston Dynamics to ask the manufacturer for help in removing the three bullets lodged in the robot and assessing the damage. The manufacturer is keeping Roscoe for research and providing the Massachusetts State Police with a replacement unit.
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