Spectators attending the World Cup matches in Dallas, New Jersey, and Mexico will experience a little Black Mirror in real life, as organizers will use robot dogs to patrol the venues as part of the FIFA security force.
Two robot dogs will be based at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and two at the International Broadcast Center in Dallas during the World Cup. Four robot dogs will also police the World Cup grounds in Mexico, which is hosting matches in three different locations.
The use of robot dogs for World Cup security recently led conspiracy theorists to believe that security officials would use them for facial recognition and to verify ticket holders. Boston Dynamics, the company that makes the robot dogs that will be used at the United States World Cup matches, says that will not be the case.
“Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots are being deployed at designated World Cup venues to perform perimeter security inspections and will be used to assist security personnel with investigating things like suspicious packages or other potentially hazardous materials. The robots do not have facial recognition capabilities,” a Boston Dynamics spokesperson told WFAA News.
Not that security won’t be extremely tight. North Texas will include undercover and uniformed officers in its security plan, as well as FAA drone regulations on match days, and will coordinate the effort over 30 agencies.
According to Mexican officials, their robots – the make of which was unclear – will step in to defend cops’ safety in the event of a fight or other situations where needed to protect security officers’ safety.