LAPD SWAT integrates ‘robot dog’ into the unit

LOS ANGELES – It looks like something straight out of science fiction, but the Los Angeles Police Department’s Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle — or “robot dog” — is now a well-worn piece of equipment in the department.

The remote-controlled device from Boston Dynamics easily walks up and down stairs, picks up and carries objects, and has primarily been used to provide the SWAT team with a live look at barricaded suspects.  

The $277,917 piece of technology was a gift to the department by the Los Angeles Police Foundation but it’s adoption into the force was controversial — with four out of twelve City Councilmembers voting against giving the department permission to use it in 2023.

Since then, the SWAT team has deployed “Spot” at least seven times, according to a yearly report filed with the Board of Police Commissioners. 

“The game changer for us was that Spot had the capability to be put in any environment and be able to overcome it and do its job,” said Deputy Chief David Kowalski, who advocated for the technology in front of the City Council and is now tasked with its deployment. 

Councilmembers opposed to the device cited its cost and menacing appearance, worried it would disproportionately be used in under-served communities. 

“Having a robot dog around is traumatic,” Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said before voting no. “It is intimidating.”

The discussion came on the heels of New York Police Department briefly pulling the plug on their Boston Dynamics robot named “Digidog” after critics called it creepy and dystopian. New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the device’s return to the force in 2023 proclaiming “Digidog is out of the pound.”

A spokesman for Boston Dynamics testified before the Los Angeles City Council that LAPD is not allowed to arm the robot or use it to intimidate suspects. 

While LAPD must give quarterly reports to the City Council on the robot’s deployment, video from the robot is not subject to transparency laws. 

SPOT made its debut with the SWAT team on August 12, 2023, after police chased a fleeing suspect into a busy shopping center. A nearby Ring camera captured him threatening “You’re dead! I’m going to kill you!” after police backed him into a corner. The man was holding what later turned out to be an airsoft gun

The video of the incident is public because Spot was deployed after an officer shot and wounded the suspect. It’s not clear what eventually caused the man to drop the weapon, but LAPD released video from Spot walking toward the man and retrieving the airsoft gun and a lighter. 

A Swat officer communicated to the suspect through the robot’s microphone, assuring him it was not a weapon. 

Eventually, officers moved in and handcuffed the suspect.

USC Sociologist Brittany Friedman studies policing and vulnerable populations and worries Spot’s appearance is menacing, no matter how carefully it is deployed. 

“I think a suspect encountering Spot and (if) they haven’t seen any news reports, they don’t have any consciousness of the technology – they would be shocked and terrified,” Friedman said.

Spot does look similar to deadly robots featured in an episode of the Netflix show “Black Mirror.” 

In March, a barricaded suspect in Massachusetts repeatedly shot a robotic dog named “Roscoe” operated by the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad. The agency credited the robot for preventing a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire. 

In Los Angeles, Kowalski said Spot is keeping officers out of harm’s way.

“For the most part, we’ve found it to be a de-escalation tool,” Kowalksi said. “Suspects can be a little surprised or someone confused by it but they haven’t acted hostile toward any of our officers.”

LAPD denied a request from Spectrum News 1 to view video from other deployments. In October of 2023, Spot was sent to view a barricaded suspect and provided a livestream while police deployed “chemical agents,” according to the yearly report.

A month later, a suspect who had fallen asleep on an MTA bus awoke to Spot approaching and retrieving a gun at his feet. 

Both suspects surrendered.