Dallas Police's 'Bomb Robot' Raises Sticky Questions

Still, the fact remains that the police deployed a robot with the intent to kill a suspect, which some say sets a worrying precedent about lethal force that's completely separate from the ethical considerations of shooting a gun. "The legal framework for police use of force assumes human decision-making about immediate human threats," Elizabeth Joh, a professor of law specializing in policing and technology at the University of California Davis, told HuffPost. "What does that mean when the police are far away from a suspect posing a threat? What does'objectively reasonable' lethal robotic force look like?" Joh recognizes that this wasn't a complex killing machine, but she argues its deployment indicates how easy it would be for police to launch more advanced weaponry without oversight.