IT House reported on February 3 that the latest member of the U.S. Border Force may be a robot dog.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released new details this week for testing quadruped robots at the southern border. The robot dogs are testing surveillance roles, which officials say are "successful" and will continue to work with the robot dog providers.
"The southern border can be a desolate place for humans, and that's where robotic dogs come in handy," said Brenda Long, program manager at the Bureau of Science and Technology (S&T), R&D, department of homeland security.
According to reports, the robot dog is manufactured by Ghost Robotics, which competes with Boston Dynamics. Ghost Robotics' most popular model, the Ghost Vision 60, is 2.5 feet (76 cm) tall, weighs 70 pounds (32 kg) and can travel more than 7.5 miles (about 12.07 km) in a single charge in 3 hours.
▲ The robot dog can be deployed with other remote sensors and cameras
IT House understands that the robot dog can navigate autonomously or control manually and can be equipped with many payloads, including thermal imaging and night vision cameras. Previously, Ghost Robotics even showed off prototype robotic dogs equipped with guns, but there was no indication that the Department of Homeland Security was testing such loads.
These robotic dogs have been used in outdoor "sentinel missions" to automatically patrol preset GPS waypoints with cameras and sensors; to inspect rail yards, around and under carriages; and to explore residential buildings, including "simulating encounters with potentially hostile individuals."