HONOLULU — Honolulu is the latest police department to use a robotic dog for various activities including scanning the eyes of the homeless to ensure they don’t have a fever prior to temporary shelter. Spot is the most common technology of robots that trot around with animal-like agility.
NBC News reports that law enforcement have been experimenting with the four-legged machines as another way to keep responders out of harm’s way as they scout for dangers but there have been privacy concerns.
In Honolulu, the police department spent about $150,000 in federal pandemic relief money to buy their Spot from robotics firm Boston Dynamics for use at a government-run tent city near the airport.
“Because these people are houseless it’s considered OK to do that,” said Jongwook Kim, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. “At some point it will come out again for some different use after the pandemic is over.”
Acting Honolulu Police Lt. Joseph O’Neal defended the robot’s use in a media demonstration earlier this year. He said it has protected officers, shelter staff and residents by scanning body temperatures between meal times at a shelter where homeless people could quarantine and get tested for COVID-19.
“We have not had a single person out there that said, ‘That’s scary, that’s worrisome,’” O’Neal said. “We don’t just walk around and arbitrarily scan people.”
