NYPD was forced to abandon ‘digidog’
Boston Dynamic’s four-legged robot dog made a much more public appearance last spring when New York’s police department brought it along while responding to a domestic dispute possibly involving a firearm in a public housing unit. Though police say the robot, which it reportedly came to nickname, “Digidog,” did not play an active role in that operation, its presence on the scene ignited a debate around police use of the technology.
Nah they really got these robot police dogs in NYC. This is wild pic.twitter.com/iG7CTPFevH
— BIG MAMA. (@1800SPOILED) April 12, 2021
Not long after that poorly received event, the NYPD announced it would cut its $94,000 contract with Boston Dynamics short by about three months. When all was said and done, the Department’s Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism said Spot had been used in the field six times over a little less than a year.
