Ethical questions raised about police use of robotic dog

BOSTON - Using robots in dangerous police situations is common these days, but one police department has been quietly testing a special robot that looks like a dog. Massachusetts State Police became the first law enforcement agency to use a robot dog named Spot. Boston Dynamics launched the four-legged robot in September, and it worked with state police to see what happened when you take Spot out of the lab and put him in the real world. One robot joined the police department's bomb squad for 90 days to see how Spot would function in a situation where there are bombs and hazardous materials or dangerous suspects, according to Massachusetts State Police. The idea is that Spot would approach the object and inspect it so that humans don't have to be endangered.