The USA is one of the largest tech nations in the world. But how do the Americans feel about all of this? Which trends inspire you, which ones pass you by completely? This is exactly what Marinela Potor reports – straight from the USA in BASIC thinking US update. This time: The experiment of the New York police with the robot dog “Digidog” is over. Even US citizens found it too scary.
Compared to Germany, US citizens are usually not very squeamish when it comes to data protection and, in my experience, generally more open to new technology trends. “Try it first” is the motto and everything that is new is fundamentally exciting.
But there seem to be exceptions. The New York Police’s robot dog, best known by the nickname “Digidog”, has evidently crossed a sensitive line.
The digital sniffer dog was part of a New York Police Department pilot project. But because it was simply too scary to people on the street, the experiment had to be stopped early.
What is the Digidog?
The robot dog comes from Boston Dynamics, a company that specializes in this type of technology. The robots, which the company actually calls “Spot”, are quite impressive and can, for example, pull together a truck or play paintball.
The New York police also wanted to try the technology. In their case, the robot dog, which was quickly given the name “Digidog” in New York, was supposed to help out in dangerous situations – for example, to help out in the event of a burial or to defuse bombs.
But even though the technology could have saved lives, the New Yorkers weren’t at all enthusiastic about Digidog.
Digidog simply too “creepy”
Because as good as the intentions behind the robot dog may have been and as helpful as the technology might be, the digital dog was simply too “creepy” for people on the street – that is, too scary.
The Boston Dynamics robot dog is very reminiscent of the Robocop dog. (Photo: Screenshot / Facebook)
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It is actually difficult not to think of the robot dog from the film “Robocop” when looking at the dog, which acts autonomously, is armed with weapons and brutally murders people.
The Digidog is far from that. It is only equipped with a camera, is controlled manually by human hands and attaching weapons to the robot dog is expressly prohibited.
Thanks to its “legs”, Digidog is, for example, much more agile than existing bomb robots and could also be used to defuse land mines.
Nevertheless, many saw him as a symbol of an increasingly militarized police force. It’s possible that a more appealing exterior might have helped avoid the unfavorable Robocop comparison.
Money should be invested elsewhere
But there’s another reason Digidog is being met with so much dislike right now. In the US, you read the news about another case of police violence in the country every day. It is now clear: there are very deep systemic problems.
In this atmosphere, the New Yorkers were now bothered by the robot dog. Because, in their opinion, the money from the police (which is basically obtained through taxpayers’ money) should be invested in de-escalation training and better education and not in technical “toys”.
There was also criticism that tax money is generously spent on police technology, but not in other areas that are currently suffering severely due to the corona pandemic, such as education or health care.
