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FDNY buys 2 robot dogs to help with search and rescue operations

The fire department is the first in the U.S. to buy Boston Dynamics’ Spot

AP22005074371432.jpg

Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, takes the stage with the robot Spot from Boston Dynamics during the CES tech show on Jan. 4 in Las Vegas.

Photo/Joe Buglewicz/Associated Press

AP22005074371432.jpg

Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, takes the stage with the robot Spot from Boston Dynamics during the CES tech show on Jan. 4 in Las Vegas.

Photo/Joe Buglewicz/Associated Press

By Leila Merrill

NEW YORK — The FDNY’s new dogs are both called Spot, but they’re not mascots, they’re robots, the New York Times reported.

Each $75,000, 70-pound Boston Dynamics robot dog will be used in search and rescue missions.

The FDNY is the first fire department in the U.S. to purchase them.

Fire officials and robotics experts say the ways the robot dogs will be used for public safety efforts should be perceived differently than they were with the NYPD, which wound up returning them.

The Boston Dynamics robots will be able to collect data on hazardous materials situations, collect images, gauge structural integrity after a building collapse or measure toxic gasses.

You may have seen a Spot on an episode of “The Tonight Show” in which it “danced.”

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