The New York Police Department is reenlisting Digidog, the four-legged robot that the city faced backlash for deploying a few years back, as reported earlier by The New York Times<\/em><\/a>. NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced the news<\/a> during a press event on Tuesday, stating that the use of Digidog in the city can \u201csave lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Digidog \u2014 also known as Spot \u2014 is a remote-controlled robot made by the Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics. It\u2019s designed to work<\/a> in situations that may pose a threat to humans, helping to do things like perform inspections in dangerous areas and monitor construction sites. However, Boston Dynamics also touts its use as a public safety tool<\/a>, which the NYPD has tried in the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2020, the NYPD used the Digidog<\/a> for reconnaissance during a situation that had a gunman barricaded inside of a building and again deployed the robot in the midst of a home invasion<\/a> in 2021 to get a glimpse at what was going on inside the home. After critics spoke out against the use of the Digidog over concerns about surveillance and the weaponization of the police, the NYPD quickly canceled its contract with Boston Dynamics<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a group that advocates against the use of local and state-level surveillance, has denounced Mayor Adams\u2019 move<\/a>. \u201cThe NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing,\u201d\u00a0Albert Fox Cahn, STOP\u2019s executive director, says in a statement. \u201cNew York deserves real safety, not a knockoff robocop. Wasting public dollars to invade New Yorkers\u2019 privacy is a dangerous police stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n City officials say that the NYPD will acquire two robot dogs for a total of $750,000, according to the NYT<\/em>, and that they will only be used during life-threatening situations, such as bomb threats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI believe that technology is here; we cannot be afraid of it,\u201d Mayor Adams said during Tuesday\u2019s press conference. \u201cA few loud people were opposed to it, and we took a step back \u2014 that is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what\u2019s best for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The city\u2019s readoption of Digidog is dredging up the same concerns about the NYPD\u2019s use of public funds, along with the effect the camera-equipped robot might have on privacy and public safety. There haven\u2019t yet been any cases where the Digidog has been weaponized, and doing so would go against Boston Dynamics\u2019 terms of service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to deploying Digidog, Mayor Adams and the NYPD also announced that it\u2019s piloting two additional, equally unsettling types of technologies. The first is the use of StarChase\u2019s Guardian HX, a handheld<\/a> or car-mounted launcher<\/a> that shoots GPS tracking tags onto vehicles to track them during car chases. There\u2019s also the K5 ASR, a machine from a company called Knightscope that\u2019s described as<\/a> a \u201cfully autonomous outdoor security robot.\u201d As noted by the NYT, <\/em>the NYPD will use the bot to collect intelligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n NYC Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during the press conference that the NYPD\u2019s rollout of these technologies will be \u201ctransparent, consistent, and always done in collaboration with the people that we serve.\u201d She also added that neither Digidog nor the K5 ASR would use facial recognition technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When asked what the NYPD is doing differently to alleviate residents\u2019 concerns about safety and surveillance, Adams cited that the city is putting all three machines out on display in Times Square. \u201cDigidog is out of the pound,\u201d Adams states. \u201cThis is the beginning of a series of rollouts we are going to do to show how public safety has transformed itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n