After sharp criticism, the New York police force ends its use of a robot dog. As a police spokesman confirmed to the news agency AFP on Thursday, the contract with the manufacturer company Boston Dynamics was terminated. The four-legged robot, nicknamed Digidog, which is used for explorations in dangerous situations, goes back to the company. Actually, the contract with a volume of 94,000 dollars (about 78,000 euros) would have expired by August.
The New York police department had unleashed a storm of indignation when it deployed the remote-controlled robot equipped with cameras during an arrest in a social housing building in February. Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke of a”robotic ground surveillance drone.”
The civil rights organization ACLU warned that robots equipped with artificial intelligence could one day make police decisions. Critics also saw the robot as a symbol of the increasing militarization of the police. The New York police, on the other hand, had declared that the high-tech robot could “save lives, protect people, protect police officers.”