A robot dog took bullets during a tense, armed barricade situation on Cape Cod earlier this month, and police say the droid’s deployment helped to prevent injuries to human officers.
“The incident provided a stark example of the benefits of mobile platforms capable of opening doors and ascending stairs in tactical missions involving armed suspects,” Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement.
Inserting the robot, he added, “may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.”
On March 6, police released a robot designed and manufactured by Boston Dynamics into a Francis Circle residence in Barnstable to assist a Cape Cod SWAT team during a barricade situation in which a man was armed with a rifle. They also deployed two PackBot 510 from Virginia-based Teledyne FLIR Defense.
The Spot unit, so named by its manufacturer because of its dog-like size and four-legged design, that police named “Roscoe” was released to the basement. It cleared a closet there before it was surprised by the man with the gun who came out of a bedroom, according to Massachusetts State Police.
The man knocked Roscoe over and then walked up the stairs. The officer remotely controlling Roscoe was able to right the robot and then follow the target up the stairs.
“When the suspect realized, with apparent surprise, that Roscoe was behind him on the stairs, he again knocked the robot over and then raised his rifle in Roscoe’s direction,” the MSP wrote in a statement. “The robot suddenly lost communications.”
Police would later learn that Roscoe had taken three bullets, disabling it.
The man then turned his attention to the two PackBot 510 robots. The robots are rubber-tracked with a central arm that the company describes as specializing in “bomb disposal, surveillance and reconnaissance” as well as detecting chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats and handling hazardous materials.
As the man was distracted by those two robots, according to the MSP, police were able to release tear gas into the home. The man would soon surrender.
Teledyne FLIR said that its Unmanned Ground Systems division, maker of the PackBots, is based in Chelmsford, and that the company has “been supporting the Mass State Police for many years, going back to when they used PackBots during the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.”
“Nothing makes us prouder than when one of our robots assists law enforcement in the line of duty and possibly saves lives. All credit goes to the officers who responded to this incident,” spokesman Joe Ailinger, Jr. told the Herald of the PackBots, which have been around since 2001 and are in use by military and law enforcement in more than 40 countries.
Likewise, a Boston Dynamics spokesperson said that the company is “proud” that its robot was able to help, adding that it was the first time a Spot unit had been shot in its long career assisting law enforcement.
“Spot keeps people out of harm’s way and aids first responders in assessing dangerous situations,” Kerri Neelon, a company spokesperson, said. “We are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot. It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives.”
Trooper John Ragosa, the MSP bomb squad member who was controlling Roscoe, took him to Boston Dynamics to have the damage assessed. The company, the MSP says, has expressed interest in keeping the shot-up unit for study. Procopio said the MSP will be replacing their Spot unit.
