Crime Robotic police dog shot multiple times, credited with avoiding potential bloodshed

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A robotic dog is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home.

The robotic dog named Roscoe was part of the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad and deployed on March 6 in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots often used for bomb disposal into the house to find the suspect along with the robotic dog.

Controlled remotely by state troopers, it first checked the two main floors before finding someone in the basement. The person, armed with a rifle, twice knocked over the robotic dog before shooting it three times and disabling its communication.

The person then shot at one of the other robots and an outdoor swimming pool before police deployed tear gas and arrested them.

“The incident provided a stark example of the benefits of mobile platforms capable of opening doors and ascending stairs in tactical missions involving armed suspects,” state police said in a statement. “In addition to providing critically important room clearance and situational awareness capabilities, the insertion of Roscoe into the suspect residence prevented the need, at that stage of response, from inserting human operators, and may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.”

Boston Dynamics, the company that made the robotic dog known as a SPOT robot, said in a statement that it was the first time one of them had been shot.

“We are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot,” the company said. “It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives.”

 

[Not a bee]

Thank you Robodog!!!
Give them lots of pets even though they won't feel it

 

[BulkForceFive]

It doesn't say if the guy was taking potshots at people outside or just sitting in his home armed with the doors locked. I'll never understand why the latter is a DEFCON 10 situation but all the gangbangers running around Chicago and Detroilet with giggle-switch Glocks can just be ignored.

 

[Dr. Hannibal Buress]

I've wondered why is it that when hit with tear gas, shooters don't hold down the trigger and fire blindly all over the place. Can they literally not control their hands either?

Unless you have experienced pepper spray or tear gas first hand and trained how to deal with it the effects will panic and incapacitate you very fast. Most people's natural instinct is to cover their eyes and try to flee to find fresh air, which makes shooting back nigh impossible.

I was at a college party that turned into a riot, and the crowd control unit showed up and after some perfunctory warnings to clear out and go home some asshole threw a bottle at them so they just started bombarding the area with tear gas. I was already leaving and about 100 yards from the gas when the wind shifted and blew it towards us, and even that dilute amont was enough to make life hellish for an hour or 2.

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

They needed to attach a bomb to the robot:
View attachment 5857643

Dude is that for real and was it for blowing up that guy in 2018? I know they made a challenge coin in phoenix with a guy who was shot in the dick with a beanbag but this is something else.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

It doesn't say if the guy was taking potshots at people outside or just sitting in his home armed with the doors locked. I'll never understand why the latter is a DEFCON 10 situation but all the gangbangers running around Chicago and Detroilet with giggle-switch Glocks can just be ignored.

This article has more deets:

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/massachusetts-robot-dog-shot/3320889/

The dog, known as Roscoe, was shot as a SWAT team dealt with a man barricaded in a home in the Hyannis section of Barnstable on March 6, police said. That standoff prompted local schools to be evacuated and took hours to resolve; it led to the arrest of 30-year-old Justin Moreira.

Moreira was barricaded inside a home on St. Francis Circle after a 911 call about a person holding someone else at knifepoint, police said at the time. The person escaped, but when officers arrived at the home, Moreira allegedly opened fire on a SWAT vehicle and periodically shot near the officers who'd circled the home.

Moreira later appeared in court, where authorities said he fired more than 30 rounds during the course of the standoff. His attorney spoke briefly outside of court, calling this "a very serious case."

Man accused in long Cape Cod police standoff has lengthy criminal history, police say

Barnstable police said they received a call just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, saying Moreira was allegedly holding his mother at knifepoint at a home on St. Francis Circle. He allegedly demanded the keys to her gun safe and then barricaded himself inside of her home in Hyannis.

Several family members escaped out of a window, according to police.

Unlike the gangbangers, he made himself a very easy to locate problem to be handled by the police.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I understand robots in bomb disposal are all given names, and the people responsible for maintaining them occasionally get, "We don't want a new one. We want Ace of Diamonds fixed and given back to us."
Robots, it seems, are every bit as alive as ships.

Maintaining a machine is still caring for something. Doesn't matter if it isn't alive.

A bomb? no, they need to make it able to go through debris and locked doors if need to.

I think this is the optimal upgrade path for the robo dog:
View attachment 5857869

I envy Sunny. She gets a badass talking robot wolf as a pet.