--- title: "The NYPD Is Bringing Back Its Widely Hated Robodog" description: "New York City Mayor Eric Adams has decided to unleash Digidog, a dystopian robodog, into the hands of the NYPD, despite mass public outrage." date: "2023-04-13" modified: "2023-04-13" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nypd-robot-dog-return" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "police robots" - "RoboDogs" - "robots" - "the digest" --- # The NYPD Is Bringing Back Its Widely Hated Robodog ![New York City Mayor Eric Adams has decided to unleash Digidog, a dystopian robodog, into the hands of the NYPD, despite mass public outrage.]() *\Image: Boston Dynamics\* ## Jump Scare New York City Mayor Eric Adams has decided to unleash Digidog, a controversial robodog, into the hands of the NYPD. Yes, [*that* Digidog](), the one that was already shamed off of public steets due to mass public outrage. The Boston Dynamics-built Digidog — also known as Spot — was originally deployed into New York City streets back in 2020, when the city's former mayor, Bill de Blasio, okayed them for use by the NYPD. Public outrage was swift, with residents labeling the surveillance bots as creepy and invasive. De Blasio, in response to the widespread backlash, [ultimately reversed the decision](). Now, though, it's free again. "Digidog is out of the pound," Adams, a former police officer, said during a Times Square press conference, [according to the *Associated Press*](). "Digidog is now part of the toolkit that we are using." "A few loud people were opposed to it and we took a step back," Adams continued, reportedly comparing the police tech to floor-cleaning Roombas. "That is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what's best for the city." ## Roomba Adjacent Per the *AP*, Adams underscored his support for the dog by listing some of its capabilities, explaining that it'll be used for reconnaissance in potentially dangerous situations. You know, like Roombas. Adams didn't appear to touch on the potential surveillance aspect of the Digidogs, which tends to be the biggest criticism with these machines. But he did note that in addition to Digidog, the NYPD will also be deploying Knightscope's intelligence-collecting K5 ASR bots — [described]() by its creators as a "fully autonomous outdoor security robot" — in New York Subway stations, in addition to a StarChase GPS-tracking technology dubbed Guardian HX. (Neither of which, of course, feel particularly *non*-surveillance-like.) ## Not a Roomba Backlash has, once again, been swift. “We're left to concoct a narrative about what this technology can and can't do, what risks it presents, what mitigation of those risks is in place, but we have no hard information," Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, [told the *New York Times*](), arguing that the NYPD tends to lack of transparency when it comes to the use and function of new technologies. "And all we're left with is Digidog running around town as this dystopian surveillance machine of questionable value and quite potentially serious privacy consequences." "The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing," added Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff RoboCop." **READ MORE:** [*RoboCop? No, RoboDog: Robotic dog rejoins New York police*]() \[*Associated Press*\] **More on Digidog:** [*After Public Rage, NYPD Secretly Fires Robot Dog*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()