{"id":628818,"date":"2023-04-13T09:48:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T14:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/13\/nypd-brings-back-the-digidog-robot-dog-two-years-after-tearing-up-its-contract-with-boston-dynamics\/"},"modified":"2023-04-13T09:48:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T14:48:51","slug":"nypd-brings-back-the-digidog-robot-dog-two-years-after-tearing-up-its-contract-with-boston-dynamics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/13\/nypd-brings-back-the-digidog-robot-dog-two-years-after-tearing-up-its-contract-with-boston-dynamics\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD brings back the Digidog robot dog, two years after tearing up its contract with Boston Dynamics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/ethics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you\u00a0can\u00a0trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"why-it-matters\"><strong>A hot potato:<\/strong> The New York Police Department has welcomed back one of its former officers: Digidog, a heavily modified Spot robot dog from Boston Dynamics. Its return comes two years after the NYPD canceled its contract with the robotics company after a backlash over Digidog&#8217;s potential surveillance abilities and the fact that it reminds people of the Metalhead robot from dystopian TV series Black Mirror. <\/p>\n<p>NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced the return of Digidog in press conference yesterday, claiming that the remote-controlled machine could &#8220;save lives.&#8221; It&#8217;s a stark contrast to former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio&#8217;s spokesperson, Bill Neidhardt, who in 2021 said it was creepy, alienating, and sent the wrong message to New Yorkers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen frameborder=\"0\" height=\"338\" src title=\"Mayor Eric Adams Makes Public Safety Announcement With NYPD Commissioner Sewell\" width=\"600\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3O0nlu8spyE?\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Spot did see some success during its first spell at the NYPD. It was deployed during a 2020 incident for reconnaissance purposes when a gunman holed himself up in a basement following a shooting. It was used in the same capacity a year later to investigate a house during a home invasion before officers entered.<\/p>\n<p>But it was video footage of that second incident that led to criticism over Digidog&#8217;s use, led by US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Then-mayor de Blasio told the NYPD to &#8220;rethink&#8221; how it used the robot. The force quickly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/89496-nypd-rips-up-94000-digidog-contract-boston-dynamics.html\">terminated<\/a> its $94,000 contract with Boston Dynamics.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-lazy-function=\"loadTwitter\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NYPDnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NYPDnews<\/a> has always been on the cutting edge of public safety. They upgrade, evaluate and innovate new ways to protect our city. Today we saw that in action in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimesSquareNYC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TimesSquareNYC<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/T9JhptafL1\">https:\/\/t.co\/T9JhptafL1<\/a><\/p>\n<p> \u2013 Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NYCMayor\/status\/1645857539190398976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But Digidog is back, and with it comes two other forms of security and surveillance tech being used by the NYPD: StarChase&#8217;s vehicle-mounted\/handheld <a href=\"https:\/\/www.starchase.com\/products\/vehicle-mounted-gps-launcher\/\">GPS launcher<\/a> that deploys a GPS tracking tag onto a suspect&#8217;s vehicle; and Knightscope&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightscope.com\/products\/k5\">K5 ASR<\/a>, a &#8220;fully autonomous outdoor security robot.&#8221; You might remember how the previous versions of this robot once allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/65550-security-guard-robot-allegedly-knocks-down-runs-over.html\">knocked down<\/a> a toddler, and in 2017 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/70178-sad-robot-takes-dip-fountain.html\">threw itself (or fell) into a fountain<\/a>. There was also an incident in which a man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/69099-man-arresting-punching-300-pound-robot-ground.html\">punched<\/a> one of the robots to the ground. He was said to be drunk at the time but still managed to take the 300-pound machine down with his fists.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the beginning of a series of rollouts we are going to do to show how public safety has transformed itself,&#8221; Adams said. &#8220;A few loud people were opposed to it, and we took a step back \u2013 that is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what&#8217;s best for the city.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The NYPD will acquire two robot dogs for a total of $750,000. They will only be used in life-threatening situations such as bomb threats, writes the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/11\/nyregion\/nypd-digidog-robot-crime.html\">New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone is pleased to see Digidog&#8217;s return. The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP)&#8217;s executive director, Albert Fox Cahn, said, &#8220;The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing. New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff robocop. Wasting public dollars to invade New Yorkers&#8217; privacy is a dangerous police stunt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/98284-nypd-brings-back-digidog-robot-dog-two-years.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Samatha Mongold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you\u00a0can\u00a0trust. A hot potato: The New York Police Department has welcomed back one of its former officers: Digidog, a heavily modified Spot robot dog from Boston Dynamics. Its return comes two years after the NYPD canceled its contract with the robotics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":628819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1177,121499,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-628818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brings","8":"category-digidog","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}