The Netherlands Police started testing autonomous plot robots developed by Boston Dynamics, for a more effective and safe inspection of drug laboratories during raids.
Earlier, the Dutch police have already used the Robots of the SPOT model for raids and observations, but they were controlled by the operator. Now it is planned to send several new robots to completely autonomous missions.
Spot is not yet able to replace real hijeck dogs since it does not have a sense of smell. However, robots can significantly reduce the risks for police officers. When conducting raids in drug laboratories, there are many dangers, including clashes with criminals, contact with dangerous chemicals and the possibility of an explosion.
“When the laboratory operates, and you stop it, it can really explode. Usually people enter there in protective clothing, but even in it they cannot move quickly, and the working time is limited to 20 minutes” – representative of the Simon Prince Police.
Prince noted that the Netherlands Police tests and uses various robots in criminal investigations for more than two decades, but only now technologies have become quite advanced for practical use.
Since its first implementation in the police several years ago, Spot has undergone many improvements, including the possibility of navigation on various landscapes and resistance to extreme temperatures.
In the meantime, not all law enforcement agencies are introduced by the introduction of a robosobak. So, in New York, the police refused to use Spot after a wave of public indignation caused by viral videos describing the robot as “terrible”.
Nevertheless, other police departments continue to use robots. For example, the Massachusetts police recently used robots, including Spot, to respond to incident with armed and aggressive suspect.