NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The FDNY purchased two robotic dog drones, nicknamed “Digidogs,” for search and rescue missions in an attempt to limit risk for firefighters, The New York Times reported.
The fire department is the first in the country to use the robots, which are built by Boston Dynamics and cost $75,000 each.
The drones are operated remotely using a controller, and FDNY staff have been training with them before they’re sent out into the city.
The NYPD deployed the same model of robot dog at a public housing complex in 2021 and faced immediate backlash.
The Digidog was widely panned as dystopian, superfluous and emblematic of overly aggressive policing. The NYPD canceled the lease and returned their $94,000 toy shortly after, according to The New York Times.
In the hands of the fire department, the robot can gather information that would otherwise put a human at risk to collect.
It can enter collapsed buildings to gauge structural integrity and check for dangerous gasses before firefighters enter, for example.
Use by the FDNY serves a dual purpose though; The city hopes to rehabilitate the Digidog’s image after the NYPD botched its rollout.
The fire department will showcase the robot at school STEM programs, and the city hopes the sight of the Digidog rescuing New Yorkers will bolster its reputation.
Critics worry the NYPD will capitalize on the public’s trust to surveil New Yorkers, either by adopting the technology once the robot has been normalized or by accessing footage collected by the FDNY’s Digidogs.
“The history has always been that even if it’s first brought in for a compelling case, you get this creep where it’s used for more and more scenarios until it’s reaching areas where it just doesn’t feel justifiable,” Albert Fox Cahn of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project told the Times.
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