Don’t worry, it wasn’t weaponised, or anything; they didn’t even duct tape a knife to its head. Missed. Opportunity.
Boston Dynamics, creators of our future robot overlords, let the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) borrow Spot, the robo-dog, for 90 days, in order to test its usefulness to law enforcement. This was allowed after they promised not to give it any weapons to play with – standard adoption procedure.
Spot is dust resistant, capable of withstanding vigorous splashing, can operate in temperatures ranging between -20 C and 45 C, and can carry about 14 kg. It also has a customisable API, but what makes it particularly well-suited to operating in environments that could be hazardous to humans, is that it isn’t a human. So, the clever boi was tested by the department’s Bomb Squad (mostly because nobody would let them attach frickin’ laser beams to its head). It was also involved in two, real-world “incidents”, but the MSP hasn’t provided any details about what those were, yet.
Oh, good, they painted them black. That’s not ominous at all.
Via SlashGear.