Robot dog involved in arrest of man with gun + Spies warn China building space weapon

[C C]

US spies warn that China is building space weapons (engineering, design)
https://futurism.com/congress-nasa-colla...na-mistake

INTRO: The US intelligence community issued a dire warning that China, perceived to be “the top threat” to America’s dominance in space, is taking steps to weaponize space.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a new Global Risk Assessment report last week in which it details an upswing in China’s military and commercial activity in Earth’s orbit. Chief among its concerns, in Defense News‘ analysis, is China’s increasing capability to shoot satellites out of the sky with missiles or disable them with lasers — a sign of increased space militarization and a concrete threat in any future conflict.

Weapons aside, the report highlights that China seems to be intensely focused on becoming the new global leader in space operations, research, and more... (MORE)

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NYPD robodog involved in arrest of man with gun (engineering)
https://futurism.com/nypd-robodog-arrest-man-gun

INTRO: To the dismay of local residents, the New York City police department rolled out its newest toy earlier this week: a four-legged robot dog. The robot, a modified Spot model manufactured by Boston Dynamics, made an appearance at a public housing building. Videos taken at the scene show the robot dog entering and exiting the building’s lobby.

Now, new details are emerging about the incident. Police have told The New York Times that the bot, dubbed “Digidog,” didn’t play an active role in the operation, but that a man who had a gun and was hiding in an apartment along with a woman and her baby was arrested on the scene.

The robodog may not have played an active role in the arrest, but having an armed police squadron deploy a robot to an active crime scene raises red flags about civil liberties and the future of policing. Locally, the incident was met with outrage... (MORE)

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/J7JnSbcEJz8

[Syne]

Now, new details are emerging about the incident. Police have told The New York Times that the bot, dubbed “Digidog,” didn’t play an active role in the operation, but that a man who had a gun and was hiding in an apartment along with a woman and her baby was arrested on the scene.

They could have used better punctuation there.

Her baby was arrested? A woman and her baby was arrested?

[confused2]

Why are people so upset by digidog? Or is it just a news story? I'm not seeing a problem with the robot dog. The more the police are protected from the public and vice versa the better.

[C C]

Why are people so upset by digidog? Or is it just a news story? I'm not seeing a problem with the robot dog. The more the police are protected from the public and vice versa the better.

EXCERPTS from NYT article: The four-legged device had only gone into and out of the building’s lobby without playing an active role in the operation, the police said. Still, its mere presence at a public housing building ignited a fierce backlash, with many people condemning it as a stark example of police power and misplaced priorities even as calls to address both roil the United States.

[...] “You can’t give me a living wage, you can’t raise a minimum wage, you can’t give me affordable housing; I’m working hard and I can’t get paid leave, I can’t get affordable child care,” Representative Jamaal Bowman, a first-term Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, said in a video posted on Twitter. “Instead we got money, taxpayer money, going to robot dogs?”

[...] The introduction of the robotic dog comes as law enforcement agencies across the country face intense scrutiny over their policies and practices, especially with the murder trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd underway.

Mr. Floyd’s death spurred calls in New York and elsewhere to “defund the police,” an expansive term that encompasses cutting law enforcement budgets and shifting the money to social programs. In New York, the City Council passed a bill last summer that for the first time requires the Police Department to disclose information about its arsenal of surveillance tools, which is among the most sophisticated in America and includes license plate readers, cellphone trackers and drones.

[...] With the mayor’s race heating up, criminal justice reform is a top issue for many voters. On Wednesday, one Democratic candidate, the former MSNBC analyst Maya Wiley, criticized the police’s use of the robot dog as wasteful and a threat to New Yorkers. (The device costs at least $74,000, according to a spokesman for Boston Dynamics, the company that makes it.)

“Rather than $70m invested into saving residents from dangerous mold & lead paint, N.Y.C. creates another danger for Black & Latino residents?!” Ms. Wiley wrote on Twitter. “Not when I’m Mayor!”

Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller and another Democratic candidate for mayor, said that the Police Department should not be focused on “coming up with new and more sophisticated ways to harass the poor and people of color.”

“As mayor, we will invest in people, not police dogs,” he said.

[...] The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern that without proper regulation, the devices, which are remotely controlled and rely on artificial intelligence, could eventually become autonomous and make their own decisions that could reinforce police bias. The group has also raised privacy concerns and the specter of the devices eventually being used as weapons.

After the New York police deployed their dog during a hostage situation in the Bronx in February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents parts of the borough and Queens, likened the Digidog on Twitter to a “robotic surveillance ground” drone.
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Cynical Sindee: NYC is a leftangelical stronghold. As in most cases like that, people of color [sans Asians to a significant degree] have succumbed to conditioning that they are still a systematically oppressed and persecuted population with various agencies responsible for their plight [including police and privileged ethnic groups like whites, Jews, Asians], and largely dependent upon the altruism of government for correcting most of that (which includes having to actively solicit such when Democrat leaders become sluggish).

The very idea of a "political party" in this dependence context is "what is it giving me?" as opposed to elsewhere "how is the party protecting and ensuring my independence?"

This collectivist orientation deems that government's distribution of funding should primarily revolve around social justice concerns -- especially due to the perception that there is a static, limited work/value production and supply of money. So any of it being channeled to progress and upgrades with respect to other metropolitan matters is something to feel irate and betrayed about.

As in many socialist or sub-socialist environments, what the government "gives" is never enough to lift _X_ community wholly out of poverty. Only maintain the feeling of helplessness, the anomie, and the deficiency of motivated self-saving, determined to succeed autonomy on the part of the individual or immediate network of family and friends supporting each other. A small percentage do escape the crab bucket, allowing the Party to offer examples of success in the string-along game.

Most cities in the US with maritime transport are usually or often dominated by one party. That's due to the constant flow of commercial goods keeping them afloat and that "nutrient source" maintaining business/industry. So that no matter how high the level of taxation, political corruption, irrational the policies, the rent and cost of living, and exploited slash manipulated the population is, the cities endure. Thus, they are the ideal lab-rat, experimental places when it comes to profiteering on social engineering promises and preserving a dependent voter base for that party.

[stryder]

Tbh, seems like a lot of hijacking of BLM principles by the Muslim Brotherhood for their own agenda.

If it was truly about oppressionism by the PD I think they would of gone with the ED-209 from the original Robocop(1987) film and given the perp "Twenty seconds to comply..."

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/mrXfh4hENKs

As for the robot concerns themselves. Well you could end up with NYFD complaining that they haven't been granted one, after all it could be used to find hotspots, look for people in buildings, help if there is any building collapses etc.

The robot is just an extension of it's operator currently (at least by the video the guy wandering around behind it was using a controller) it didn't appear armed, and only mentioned that it was really meant for "Snooping". Rather than sending a bunch of armed guys in through a door, they have the opportunity now to see if the scene is actually what they anticipate. Take for instance the shooting of a gamer that was "Swatted", rather than having Swat go in expecting heavy resistance, they can send the bot in to see if it's a hotzone (It could actually save lives of people of a variety of different ethnicities, faiths and genders?). Admittedly, they don't want to send a $70 mil robot to it's end, but a cheaper model could be made just for that purpose.

[Yazata]

The robodog may not have played an active role in the arrest, but having an armed police squadron deploy a robot to an active crime scene raises red flags about civil liberties and the future of policing. Locally, the incident was met with outrage...)

There's a political faction which is going to react with feigned politically motivated "outrage" to anything that police do. I just tune it out. If they want to have any hope of influencing my opinion, they need to explain exactly how deploying a robot to an active crime scene "raises red flags about civil liberties". What 'civil liberties' does this threaten? How?

It sounds like an excellent idea to me. If police are responding to calls about a man with a gun and aren't sure where the person is, send in a robot to reconnoitre the area and locate him, scope out fields of fire, possible cover, approach and escape routes etc., all without exposing human officers who would have to perform the same tasks to gunfire.

I can't imagine any civil rights that might violate. It might save the life of a police officer though, a potentiality which I suppose some might oppose.

And Spots don't cost $70 million. It was some local activist Democratic political candidate/msnbc 'analyst' that tossed out that false number. Spots cost ~ $70,000. It's a lot, but less than the annual pay of one police officer or his medical expenses if he's shot. It's a one-time purchase price and the Spots can be used year after year, with periodic software upgrades making them more and more capable.

All and all, I think that police and fire agencies everywhere should assess Spot's suitability for their kind of tasks. Might be suitable, might not. That is the kind of information that might influence me to change my opinion. Certainly not all this bullshit race-politics stuff.