Robot dog surveys damage at Lower Manhattan parking garage collapse

A week after the NYPD announced its decision to spend $750,000 on a pair of four-legged robots called Digidogs, the technology was used to survey the scene of a fatal parking garage collapse in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon.

The FDNY, which already owns two Digidogs, sent one of the robots into the wreckage to livestream video. Department drones also surveyed the area.

FDNY Chief John Esposito said officials were able to view the video in the command center and on their phones. He said the technology allowed the FDNY to get information “without putting our firefighters’ and our first responders’ lives at risk.”

“This was an extremely dangerous operation for our firefighters,” Esposito said, adding that the department decided to pull all its workers from the building as it continued to collapse.

Officials reported that at least one person has died and four others went to the hospital. One person refused medical attention, Esposito said.

The Digidog is a remote-controlled device with four legs that can walk up and down stairs and traverse uneven terrain. It can be equipped with cameras, microphones and sensors to detect gas and radiation.

The technology is often used to survey worksites, according to Boston Dynamics, the company that makes the robots. Police officials said they planned to used the robots to assess dangerous situations, like hostage negotiations.

The NYPD first tested the robots in 2020, but public outcry prompted the department to end its contract in 2021. Last week, Mayor Eric Adams and police officials announced they were bringing back the Digidog and also introduced two other gadgets the NYPD will be rolling out in the coming months.

“Digidog is out of the pound,” Adams said at the time.

The announcement sparked another round of backlash, as some New Yorkers criticized the department for spending a large sum of money on technology while other agencies are being asked to scale back their budgets. Others raised concerns about surveillance and potential privacy violations.

The NYPD is required to share information with the public about its use of surveillance technology, but a report from the Office of the Inspector General published last year found the department often uses “vague, nonspecific boilerplate language” in its policies.