eadless robot dogs may someday patrol US-Mexico border. What we know about these machines
“Robot dogs” — four-legged headless machines mounted with cameras and sensors — may one day be prowling along the Southwest border, spotting undocumented migrants or sniffing out drug smugglers.
Department of Homeland Security officials have tested the 100-pound, four-legged prototypes in Virginia and Texas. Officials hope to equip the robots, developed by Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics, with cameras and sensors to assist Border Patrol agents in detecting illegal activity.
The mechanized prototype was designed to trek over the rough terrain faced by agents along the border, Gavin Kenneally, Ghost Robotics’ chief product officer, said in a DHS press release.
“It is a rugged, quadruped robot,” he said. “It traverses all types of natural terrain including sand, rocks and hills, as well as human-built environments, like stairs. That’s why you want legs and not tracks.”
But civil rights and immigrant advocates warned that the robots could infringe on civil liberties — of both asylum seekers and border residents — and questioned whether it was the best use of federal funds while the U.S. immigration system remains in deep crisis.
“Nothing illustrates a dehumanizing approach to people migrating more clearly than the creation of robotic dogs to terrorize them,” Lisa Koop, associate director of legal services for the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, said in a statement. “We also question the government spending the money necessary to launch this, as opposed to directing resources towards ensuring meaningful access to asylum at the border.”
The robot dogs are the latest in ongoing efforts by DHS to deploy technology along its Southwest border. The agency has also used drones capable of covert aerial surveillance, towers that detect and track illegal activity and smartphone apps that allow agents to see team member locations in the field and reduce friendly fire incidents.
Between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, Customs and Border Protection, which oversees border surveillance, received more than $743 million for border security technology, according to a report last year by DHS’s Office of Inspector General.
However, the agency only launched 28% of the proposed plans for border technology, according to the report.
“Much work remains for CBP to meet the Federal requirement for deploying the most effective technologies and tools to support the border wall system and further enhance situational awareness by closing existing gaps in border surveillance coverage,” it said.
Homeland Security’s research and development arm, known as the Science and Technology Directorate, had been developing the robot dogs with Ghost Robotics for about two-and-a-half years, according to the DHS release.
They were first tested in a facility in Lorton, Virginia, where they were mounted with video cameras and sensor packages and used to transmit real-time video and other data to monitors.
Then, the robots moved to El Paso, Texas, where they were mounted with cameras and other equipment and tested by walking up hills, down ravines and over rocks, all while carrying 20-pounds worth of payload, according to the release. The dogs also conducted sentry duty in the desert, during the day and at night, it said.
Kenneally, the Ghost Robotics official, said in the release that the robot dog’s legs have the ability to feel through its motors and can “estimate friction forces and automatically correct for uneven or slippery ground.” Researchers also looked at basic field maintenance and repair, such as battery life and the ease of swapping out worn “paw” treads.
The press release said the robot dogs, during testing in El Paso, walked through indoor facilities where they encountered “potentially hostile individuals.” But a DHS spokesperson said in a statement that the dogs are not designed or being tested to engage with migrants.
The robots were still in the research and development phase and there is currently “no timetable” for them to deploy, according to the statement.
“Despite the advances and sophistication, these machines do sometimes struggle with battery life and mobility in the rugged terrain along the Southwest Border, limiting their immediate usefulness in many operational environments,” it said.
Headless “robot dogs” are being tested to aid U.S. Border Patrol agents combat illegal activity along the U.S.-Mexico border. Civil rights and immigrant advocates, however, … Show more DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Similar robot dogs were tested last year by New York City police officers and Massachusetts state police and raised concerns by human rights groups, particularly over the potential for weaponizing the robots, said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.
The robots also raise concerns about remote-control aggression toward people, he said. Robot dogs on the border could present a host of similar problems for people living along the border, he said.
“We’ve long had concerns about the remote use of force via robots,” Stanley said. “That’s something that could easily get out of hand in the future.”
He added: “It’s hard to imagine how robot dogs will be practical in border regions given their minimum battery lives, slow speed and other limitations. It smacks of experimentation of high-tech toys being pushed by companies.”
One advantage the robot dogs may present is having a roving camera in the field that could potentially capture interactions between Border Patrol agents and migrants, possibly leading to more accountability from agents, said Terence Garrett, a political science professor at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, who studies border security.
Advocates have long pushed for bodycam on border patrol agents but the federal government has been slow in deploying them.
However, if the robot dogs are equipped with tracking devices, they could also trail migrants, suspected smugglers — or U.S. citizens living along the border, Garrett said.
Like drones, the dogs could follow suspects engaged in illegal activity, he said. But like drones, they could make mistakes, confronting or harassing unsuspecting residents along the border.
Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande as they hope to enter the U.S. via Del Rio, Texas, from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, Sept. 18, 2021.