It's official: Police are testing out Boston Dynamics' robot dog

Dogs have served alongside police officers for decades, sometimes even sacrificing their own lives in order to save their human partners. Robots are a fixture of law enforcement, too, most notably in bomb situations. But now, a police force in the United States has tested the capabilities of a robot dog for the first time -- and civil liberties experts are raising the alarm. According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Police leased a Spot robot dog from Boston Dynamics for 90 days ending on November 5, 2019. In August, the organization filed a public records request for any documents relating to the agency's use of Spot, as well as any records relating to its "plans for, acquisition of, and/or use of robotics" since 2015.