Police have thanked a robot dog that was shot three times while searching a barricaded home for an armed suspect.
Officers in Massachusetts, US, credited the robotic pooch named Roscoe - a SPOT four-legged robot - for potentially saving lives over the March 6 incident. Police deployed two other robots as well as the robot dog after getting fired on from a house in Barnstable.
They were part of the inanimate team Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad deployed to find the suspect.
Controlled remotely by state troopers, it first checked the two main floors before finding someone in the basement.
Controlling SPOT remotely, the officer first cleared a closet in the basement and then was about to open another door when the armed man suddenly appeared from a bedroom armed with a rifle.
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Bullet marks in the robot dog's armour (Massachusetts State Police)The person twice knocked over the robotic dog before trying to get away.
Unbeknownst to the suspect, SPOT robots have a self-righting function, and the officer in control managed to get the robot dog to stand up and begin to walk up the stairs behind the him.
According to the police: "When the suspect realised, 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."
The Troopers would later discover that that Roscoe had been shot three times by the suspect and had been rendered inoperable.
The dog's robotic head also was shot (Massachusetts State Police)The person then shot at one of the other robots and an outdoor swimming pool before police deployed tear gas and arrested them.
“The incident provided a stark example of the benefits of mobile platforms capable of opening doors and ascending stairs in tactical missions involving armed suspects,” state police said in a statement. “In addition to providing critically important room clearance and situational awareness capabilities, the insertion of Roscoe into the suspect residence prevented the need, at that stage of response, from inserting human operators, and may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.”
Police have credited the dog with taking a bullet that could have been used on a human officer (Massachusetts State Police)Boston Dynamics, the company that made the robotic dog known as a SPOT robot, said in a statement that it was the first time one of them had been shot.
“We are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot,” the company said. “It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives.”
Authorities have not identified the shooter or said what charges they face.
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The robotic dog was sent to Boston Dynamics to remove the bullets. It will remain with the company and a new unit will be sent to state police.
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