The NYPD’s robot dog has been hounded out of service.
The police department will return Digidog to robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics after months of backlash and mockery that compared the four-legged bot to a dystopian sci-fi surveillance nightmare.
John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, confirmed Wednesday the NYPD had cancelled its contract with Boston Dynamics, and pushed back against criticism of the AI tool.
Miller said the plan was to evaluate whether the robot could be used to survey scenes like standoffs with barricaded armed suspects, hostage situations, and chemical or radiation incidents where a human being might be at risk.
“It was never a piece of ‘surveillance equipment.’ Some people who had an agenda tried to make it out to be for spying. Really?” Miller said. “It was loud when it walked, had a camera for a head, flashing lights and a speaker and a police officer could use to communicate if needed. It wasn’t exactly going to be shadowing anyone down the street or hiding in a doorway on surveillance.
“Those comments were very misinformed but did damage to public trust,” he added. “This is a piece of equipment we won’t have when it could make police officers or victims safer.”
The dog first appeared at crime scenes early this year, and Daily Show host Trevor Noah mocked it in a February segment.
“Wow, a robot dog? What a cool way for the police to say they have too much money and should be defunded,” Noah quipped.
It also drew comparisons from City Council Member Ben Kallos and others to an episode of the TV series “Black Mirror” featuring a killer robot dog. The sci-fi and horror anthology series explores how technology and social media innovations can go grievously wrong.
But Miller brushed off the “Black Mirror” comparison as ridiculous.
“When people have to borrow from fantasy to come up with a rationale, it is a reach,” he said. “Cops have to deal with real world situations, and I need real world tools.”
Digidog was hounded by other problems: The NYPD leased the robot without properly notifying the city, Comptroller Scott Stringer told the Daily News last week.
Last August, Stringer terminated a memorandum of understanding that allowed the department to keep its spending on surveillance technology secret. The NYPD insists Digidog wasn’t a surveillance tool.
Kallos — who issued a subpoena to learn the NYPD leased Digidog at $7,850 a month for 12 months, with a minimum payment of $94,200 — cheered the robot’s return to its maker.
“Our city needs more community policing, officers connecting residents, not scary military-style gadgets that scare folks,” the Upper East Side Democrat said. “We did the work to find out how much was spent on this and we put pressure on the City to adjust priorities. I am glad the robot dog has been put down and we can use the money that would have gone to buying more of these to invest in communities and building better relationships with residents.”
With Rocco Parascandola
Source (Ny Daily news)