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State police are testing out the use of Spot robot dogs

It brings a whole new meaning to K-9 units.

Shelby Brown Editor II
Shelby Brown (she/her/hers) is an editor for CNET's services team. She covers tips and tricks for apps, operating systems and devices, as well as mobile gaming and Apple Arcade news. Shelby also oversees Tech Tips coverage. Before joining CNET, she covered app news for Download.com and served as a freelancer for Louisville.com.
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Shelby Brown
2 min read
spotdancing

Boston Dynamics' Spot can dance, pull trucks and might be able to aid police one day.

Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

You might not want to read this if the Black Mirror episode "Metalhead" frightened you the most. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts obtained and shared documents detailing how the Massachusetts State Police has been testing ways to incorporate Boston Dynamics Spot robot dogs. 

The state's ACLU branch reached out to the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) requesting records regarding the acquisition and use of robotics. The request was made following a Facebook event the MSP Museum and Learning Center scheduled for July 30 called "Robotics Use in Law Enforcement." The ACLU received seven documents in return, including emails, scans of fiscal records, a "protection justification proposal for MSP" and a scan of a memo of an agreement between the department of fire services and the MSP bomb squad. 

The documents, reported on earlier by WBUR News, showed that the state's bomb squad had Spot on loan from Boston Dynamics from August until November. 

Boston Dynamics

The MSP didn't immediately respond to request for comment, but spoke to WBUR.

"Robot technology is a valuable tool for law enforcement because of its ability to provide situational awareness of potentially dangerous environments," MSP spokesman David Procopio told WBUR.

In addition, Boston Dynamics Vice President for Business Development Michael Perry told WBUR that he doesn't want Spot weaponized. 

"Right now, our primary interest is sending the robot into situations where you want to collect information in an environment where it's too dangerous to send a person, but not actually physically interacting with the space," Perry told WBUR.

The Spot robot dogs went on sale for early adopters in September. Though the robot dog be but little, it has more than demonstrated its strength and sass-- even catching the eye of Cirque du Soleil

Watch this: Boston Dynamics Spot robot is ready to leave the nest