Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced new information regarding its usage of quadrupedal robots that would be located around the southern border. These robots will be tested in a variety of different surveillance-focused roles, and so far, the test runs have been "successful".
"The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there," Brenda Long, a program manager for the DHS' research and development arm, stated in a press release. "This S&T-led initiative focuses on Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, or what we call 'AGSVs.' Essentially, the AGSV program is all about ... robot dogs."
One of the key features of these robot dogs is that they are able to provide real-time video and other such data to live operators while walking over sand, rocks, and hills. Another key feature of these robot dogs is that they can investigate confined spaces, along with long-range and night vision cameras, according to Ghost Robotics CEO Jiren Parikh.
This particular project has been in the works for over two years, but it remains unknown as to the exact amount of robot dogs that will be utilized in this project. Essentially, the robot dogs are able to endure any type of physical obstacle or environment that people are able to, which includes steps, stairs, steep hills, or rocky terrain. In spite of how advanced that the robots appear to be, however, they are very much inhibited in what they are able to do, particularly with their unpredictable behavior and limited battery lives.
One of the other key reasons that these robots are being utilized is from the dangerous activities that occur close to the southern border. Many types of illegal activities happen close to this border, and so the robots may be able to help with these occurrences.
"Just like anywhere else, you have your standard criminal behavior, but along the border you can also have human smuggling, drug smuggling, as well as smuggling of other contraband-including firearms or even potentially, WMD," said Agent Brett Becker of the CBP Innovation Team (INVNT). "These activities can be conducted by anyone from just a lone individual, all the way up to transnational criminal organizations, terrorists or hostile governments-and everything in between."
As attempts to build physical walls along the U.S. southern border begin to stall, the government is turning towards more tech solutions, and robot dogs are a logical first time forward.