Austin Police Department is set to add a Boston Dynamics robotic vehicle to its equipment supply for use during high-risk security situations.
Austin City Council voted to authorize a contract to purchase the technology during the July 24 council meeting. District 10 council member Mike Siegel was the sole dissenting vote.
The details
Per agenda documents, the vehicle—named Spot—is a four-legged robot that can navigate indoor and outdoor environments and will be used by APD’s special operations unit when responding to critical incidents.
The robot can be operated manually by remote control or automatically using its perception and guidance systems to follow predefined routes, and will reduce officer exposure during high-risk events such as explosive or suspicious packages, hazardous materials or barricaded subjects.
The approved purchase includes the vehicle, plus related accessories and training.
The cost
The vote approved a one-year contract for the vehicle with Safeware Inc. not to exceed $304,619.
According to agenda documents, $250,000 is available in the special revenue fund of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management through the federal grant funded 2024 State Homeland Security Program, and the other $54,619 is available in APD’s operating budget.
Offering input
During the public communication period prior to the vote, resident Daniela Silva asked council to postpone the vote in order to add language stating the technology would not be used for surveillance in lieu of community policing, not incorporate artificial intelligence video monitoring, and not be equipped with items that could potentially harm a person.
“There is a lot of concern around what kind of services this technology could be used for in the future,” Silva said. “There are several concerns that folks from the No ALPRs coalition have expressed, mostly in that it could potentially harm people especially if it is not being controlled by a person on the backend as these can be set to operate in an automated way.”
APD Special Operations Lieutenant Elijah Myrick said the department currently utilizes other robotic vehicles for high-risk calls. While they are most useful in explosive breaching situations, they can weigh up to several hundred pounds, are "not very intuitive," can easily be damaged, and require a skilled operator.
Myrick said Spot utilizes artificial intelligence to do things like climb stairs and open doors, and can easily self-right or prevent itself from falling over.
"The last thing we want to do is have a barricaded subject and have to go in and send officers," Myrick said.
Additionally, Myrick said Spot will always be under the remote control of a trained officer, and said any video data recorded will go to the controller and is not retained on the vehicle.
"I think there's still a place for both [robotic vehicles]," Myrick said. "If [Spot] is as effective as I think it's going to be, ... we'll definitely be taking a hard look at, how can we employ these more?"
