--- title: "Robot Dog Shot Three Times During Raid" description: "A Boston Dynamics SPOT robot that was sent inside a home by Massachusetts state police was shot three times by a person barricaded inside." date: "2024-03-28" modified: "2024-03-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-dog-shot-three-times" categories: - "Robot Dogs" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "boston dynamics" - "robot dog" - "spot" - "the digest" --- # Robot Dog Shot Three Times During Raid ![A Boston Dynamics SPOT robot that was sent inside a home by Massachusetts state police was shot three times by a person barricaded inside.]() *\Image: Massachusetts State Police\* ## Ping Ping Ping A Boston Dynamics SPOT robot deployed by Massachusetts state police was shot three times. As the [*Associated Press* reports](), the robotics company believes it's the first time one of its robotic dogs has been shot. The remotely-controlled quadruped, a part of the police department's bomb squad, was deployed earlier this month to track down a suspect who had barricaded themself in a Barnstable, Massachusetts home. The robot was able to traverse the stairs, check both of the home's floors and eventually find the suspect in the basement — who knocked it over and shot it three times with a rifle. "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," state police said in a statement, suggesting that the robot, dubbed Roscoe, may have stopped a police officer from getting shot. ![]() *Massachusetts State Police* ## Hide and Seek Images released by the Massachusetts State Police Department show the gunmetal gray robot with several gunshot "wounds," denting the its metal shell and stripping off paint. According to the *AP*, police have since sent the robot to Boston Dynamics to have the bullets removed. "We are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot," the company said in a statement. "It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives." Despite the successful reconnaissance mission, the use of robot dogs by police departments has been met with a barrage of criticism. Since at least [late 2019](), police departments in the US have started to make use of the platform to spare the lives of officers in the line of fire and in bomb situations — or at least that's their purported purpose. The New York City police department's use of the robot police dogs was almost immediately met with outrage, with civil liberties advocates decrying their use as unethical and a gross violation of personal privacy. The experiment didn't last, with the department [firing the robotic dog after about a year](). New York City mayor Eric Adams, however, reinstituted the "dystopian surveillance drone" in April 2023. "The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing," Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, [told the *New York Times*]() at the time. "New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff RoboCop." **More on Spot:** *[Oh Great, They Put ChatGPT Into a Boston Dynamics Robot Dog]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()