BURNING BUILDINGS, COLLAPSED TUNNELS, SINKING SHIPS… WHEREVER YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF TRAPPED AND IN DANGER, THERE’S A ROBOT DESIGNED TO COME TO YOUR RESCUE

by HAYLEY BENNETT

NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE

SEND IN THE ‘DOGS’

SPOT, BOSTON DYNAMICS

Over 1,000 of these yellow robots, dubbed Spot, are already patrolling factories and power plants. And now the New York City Fire Department is starting to use the dog-like devices for searchand-rescue missions. In April 2023, it was reported that a Spot had been sent in to survey the remains of a collapsed car park that was considered too unstable for fire crews to enter.

Developed by Boston Dynamics, a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Spot can access places people can’t get to, send back video footage, identify hazards, carry up to 14kg (30lbs) and, when fitted with an add-on ‘arm’, open doors and flip switches.

Not everyone has been convinced of Spot’s suitability for work with the emergency services, however. In 2020, the New York City Police Department started testing Spot, but cancelled its arrangement with Boston Dynamics following a public backlash.

TRAIL BLAZERS

FIRE FIGHTING ROBOT, ANSHAN HENGYE SPECIAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURING CO

GETTY IMAGES, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Here, at the Bajiao Fire Rescue Station, in Yantai, northeast China, a firefighter tests out a fire-fighting robot. For a few years now the Chinese government has been promoting the technology, which allows human firefighters to remain safely outside the danger zone of a blaze while controlling robot extinguishers.