The New York City Police Department's robo-dog is causing a stir after footage of it was shared online.
A clip shared online shows a man in handcuffs being lead out of a building by police, shortly followed by some more cops and the Digidog, which looks like something straight out of an episode of Black Mirror.
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The person filming the clip can be heard to say: "I've never seen nothing like this before in my life."
The footage has since gone viral, with social media users feeling pretty creeped out by the robotic pooch.
One person wrote: "This is very unsettling for me. Why does it look like that?"
Another said: "We need to begin forming legislature BANNING the use of MILITARIZED AI.
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"This is seriously terrifying, and I don't want to live in an episode of Black Mirror."
A third said: "Imagine the world 10 years from now if we already have this s***. We're so f*****, robots are going to destroy us."
Another commented: "Can we just - can we not do this right now. Who in their right mind thought this would be a good idea just fresh out of 2020 like this."
Others were reeling over the $74,000 (£53,000) price tag of the Digiog, which is made by Boston Dynamics, and suggested the cash could have been better used elsewhere.
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According to a report in The New York Times, the robot has cameras and lights on its frame as well as a two-way communication system that allows the officer controlling it to see and hear what's going on.
Police say the robots can be used to scope out a dark area to assess how safe it is for officers to enter.
In a post on Twitter, the NYPD said: "The NYPD has been using robots since the 1970s to save lives in hostage situations & hazmat incidents. This model of robot is being tested to evaluate its capabilities against other models in use by our Emergency Service Unit and Bomb Squad."
But not everyone is a fan, and some critics have raised privacy concerns about the robots.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted about the Digidog back in February, writing: "Shout out to everyone who fought against community advocates who demanded these resources go to investments like school counselling instead.
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"Now robotic surveillance ground drones are being deployed for testing on low-income communities of colour with under-resourced schools.
"Please ask yourself: when was the last time you saw next-generation, world class technology for education, healthcare, housing, etc consistently prioritized for underserved communities like this?"
Featured Image Credit: Twitter