The New York Police Department is re-recruiting Digidog, the four-legged robot the city faced backlash for implementing a few years ago. as previously reported by The New York Times. New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the news during a press event on Tuesday, stating that the use of Digidog in the city can “save lives”.
Digidog, also known as Spot, is a remote-controlled robot made by Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics. Is designed to work in situations that may pose a threat to humans, helping to do things like conduct inspections in hazardous areas and monitor construction sites. However, Boston Dynamics also promotes its use as a public safety toolthat the NYPD has attempted in the past.
In 2020, the NYPD used the Digidog for reconnaissance during a situation where a gunman barricaded himself inside a building and again deployed the robot in the middle of a home invasion in 2021 to take a look at what was going on inside the house. After critics spoke out against the use of the Digidog over concerns about police surveillance and weaponization, the NYPD quickly terminated its contract with Boston Dynamics.
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a group that advocates against the use of surveillance at the local and state level, has denounced Mayor Adams’ move. “The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible police,” says Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of STOP, in a statement. “New York deserves real security, not fake robocop. Wasting public dollars to invade the privacy of New Yorkers is a dangerous police trick.”
City officials say the NYPD will procure two robot dogs for a total of $750,000, according to the NOWand that they will only be used in life-threatening situations, such as bomb threats.
“I think the technology is here; we cannot be afraid of it,” Mayor Adams said during Tuesday’s press conference. “Some loud people objected and we took a step back, that’s not how I operate. I operate looking at what is best for the city”.
The city’s re-adoption of the Digidog is bringing to light the same concerns about the NYPD’s use of public funds, along with the effect the camera-equipped robot could have on privacy and security. public. There have yet to be any cases where Digidog has been assembled, and to do so would be against Boston Dynamics’ terms of service.
In addition to implementing Digidog, Mayor Adams and the NYPD also announced that they are testing two additional types of equally disturbing technologies. The first is the use of Guardian HX from StarChase, a handheld either car mounted launcher which fires GPS tracking tags at vehicles to track them during car chases. There is also the K5 ASR, a machine from a company called Knightscope that is described as a “fully autonomous outdoor security robot”. As pointed out by NOW, the NYPD will use the bot to gather intelligence.
New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during the press conference that the NYPD’s implementation of these technologies will be “transparent, consistent, and always done in collaboration with the people we serve.” He also added that neither the Digidog nor the K5 ASR would use facial recognition technology.
When asked what the NYPD is doing differently to alleviate residents’ concerns about safety and security, Adams mentioned that the city is displaying all three machines in Times Square. “Digidog is out of the pound,” says Adams. “This is the beginning of a series of releases that we are going to do to show how public safety has been transformed.”
