Associated Press
DALLAS — A robotics expert says Dallas police appear to be the first law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill.
Peter W. Singer, of the New America Foundation, says the killing of a suspect in Thursday night’s fatal shooting of five police officers is the first instance of which he’s aware of a robot being used lethally by police.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that after hours of failed negotiations and in order to not put any officers in harm’s way, his department used a robot to deliver a bomb that killed the suspect. Brown said they saw no other option.
Singer said in an email Friday that when he was researching his 2009 book “Wired for War” a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used MARCbot surveillance robots against insurgents.