NYC Mayor: Robo-pup 'out of the pound' and back to police work

Two Digidog robots will return to New York City for police work despite earlier criticism that ended with the cops terminating a $94,000 contract and sending the remote-controlled machines back to Boston Dynamics. "Digidog is out of the pound," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference in Times Square Tuesday, …

[An_Old_Dog]

Coming Soon ...

DigiDog v2.0 will have a procaine injector*. For "safety", of course.

*c.f. "Fahrenheit 451", written in 1953 by Ray Bradbury.

[Crypto Monad]

"Please put down your weapon"

You have 20 seconds to comply.

[Claverhouse]

A New York World

What a noble person he seems, bravely ready to force through anything, no matter how stupid, to protect his beloved New Yorkers.

[james 68]

Auto correct can be bothersome

"to protect his beloved kickbacks."

Fixed that for you.

[Antron Argaiv]

K5 vs stairs

The last time it tackled stairs, it drowned itself.

[MiguelC]

Re: K5 vs stairs

Maybe it can learn a trick or two from the Daleks... "Elevate!"

[ske1fr]

Re: K5 vs stairs

That was where I lost my shit with 'New Who'. Cobblers. Revisionist Daleks? If they had created some kind of anti-gravity generator shirley they ought to have evolved a better mobility device than an oversized pepperpot with monocular vision. I found the original Daleks scary (I was very, very young at the time), the new ones just like manglement in a can.

[Roj Blake]

Re: K5 vs stairs

Daleks could fly in Classic Who (Remembrance of the Daleks).

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't going to learn a trick from a Dalek

It is one.

Just a particularly smooth one as camouflage. That way it can more comfortably be inserted into the rank and file of the police force with a minimum of initial discomfort.

[ske1fr]

Re: K5 vs stairs

"He's fallen in the water!" Reader, I recall that from my childhood. Goon Show, for Gen Z.

[Dronius]

I'd love to see some creative yarn-boming of a K5.

You could knit a tea-cosy with big bobbly ears and just pop it over the trundling phallus for shits'n'giggles.

Some strategically placed holes and it might pootle about for hours without the operator knowing.

[SW10]

There are some excellent threads on Twitter advising responsible citizens to avoid:

- pointing lasers or bright lights at it;

- spreading oil or slippery substances in front of it

- confronting it with a mirror

- throwing a blanket over it

- pressing and holding the On/Off button on its rump

Also, should you fall down near the mutt, be careful not to pull the handles on its ´belly’, as this could dislodge the battery

[Anonymous Coward]

A pint

to the first one of you that gets me a picture of one of these on concrete blocks.

[Anonymous Coward]

"And trust me when I tell you this..."

Words from a politician that always give me a warm, comforted feeling ...

[MrAptronym]

Yes, a lot of attention is being paid to how dystopian this is, and yes. Definitely.

But also reaaally messed up that they spent 1.5 million of forfeiture money to do it. That they had that much money taken in that they could buy two robot dog cops.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, the robots are just the ugly face of the real problems, which are human

The police and city hall know we HATE the idea of this. They know it's a waste of money and time. But nobody in either is going to stand up to a new chief with a gadget fetish.

So we will flush millions down the toilet again for useless toys that even the manufacturer wishes the cops and military would stop making creepy. And some of that money was probably seized from people without trial and with a "guilty till proven innocent" burden of proof with no legal help available.

Dystopia has many many faces.

[Anonymous Coward]

Commander Robomutt

Spin ahead 6 years and the robots will be giving the press conferences.