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A recent standoff in Massachusetts between police and an armed suspect who is now facing two dozen charges might be an early look into our ‘RoboCop’ future as the officers used a robot dog nicknamed ‘Roscoe’ to take down the armed suspect.
In a lengthy post to Facebook, the Massachusetts State Police detailed how the nearly 8-hour standoff went once they called in the robot dog from Boston Dynamics. By their account, the robot dog almost certainly saved blood from being shed as it was used to locate the suspect inside who was later found to have shot the robot three times, rendering Roscoe unusable.
Two PacBot 510 robots and a four-legged robot (Roscoe) were deployed after the suspect, Justin Moreira, reportedly fired a rifle at a SWAT vehicle. The remote-controlled robotic dog was then sent into the home’s basement where it “first cleared a closet in the basement and then was about to open another door when the male suspect suddenly appeared from a bedroom armed with a rifle.”
At that point, the suspect attempted to knock the four-legged robot over. They wrote about how that was a futile attempt because Roscoe can right itself when knocked over. Saying the “suspect attempted to knock Roscoe over and was eventually successful in doing so. After Roscoe was knocked down, the suspect, still carrying the rifle, began to ascend the stairs leading out of the bedroom. Unbeknownst to the suspect, SPOT robots have a self-righting function, and Trooper Ragosa was able to return Roscoe to his feet.”
It seems to be at this point that the robot dog was shot three times by the suspect. They write “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.” Presumably, the lack of communication was tied to the three gun shots.
On the one hand, this is an incredible use of technology to solve a horrible situation the officers were facing. Who knows what might have happened had they sent officers into the house. But on the other hand, it just seems weird that they keep referring to the robot as a ‘dog’ and not just as a robot.
It’s an inanimate object. A robot. ‘Dog’ elicits sympathy from us. Americans care more about dogs than the homeless. Why not just call it a robot if that’s all it is? There’s something odd about it for sure.
All that said, hopefully more police forces across the nation are able to employ remote-controlled robots in order to prevent needless encounters with armed criminals.