A robotic dog named "Roscoe," shot three times during a dramatic police standoff with a barricaded suspect, is being credited by the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad with saving the lives of officers.
Troopers deployed the robotic canine on March 6 after officers were shot at by a suspect, identified as Justin Moreira, who was armed with a rifle and was holding his mother at knifepoint in a Barnstable home, the Cape Cod Times reported.
Roscoe, controlled remotely by state troopers, was sent into the home along with two other robots to search for the man and to provide police with information about what was going on inside, the state police said.
"In addition to providing critically important room clearance and situational awareness capabilities, the insertion of Roscoe into the suspect residence prevented the need, at that stage of response, from inserting human operators and a real dog, and may have prevented a police officer or K9 from being involved in an exchange of gunfire," the troopers said in a statement on Facebook.
Roscoe began in the basement and worked its way upstairs where it suddenly encountered an armed Moreira.
Moreira knocked Roscoe over and ran out of a bedroom.
"Unbeknownst to the suspect, SPOT robots have a self-righting function" that allowed the trooper to get Roscoe upright and continue its pursuit.
"When the suspect realized, with apparent surprise, that Roscoe was behind him on the stairs, he again knocked the robot over and then raised his rifle in Roscoe's direction. The robot suddenly lost communications," the state police said.
Moreira also shot at another robot but missed it and hit the above-ground pool in the backyard.
By then, the SWAT officers lobbed tear gas into the home, and the suspect surrendered without anyone being hurt.
"The Troopers would later discover that Roscoe had been shot three times by the suspect and had been rendered inoperable," the state police said.
The next day Roscoe was taken to Boston Dynamics, which manufactured it and other such robots, to have the bullets removed.
Moreira was arraigned the following day.
He is facing charges of kidnapping, nine counts of firearm-armed assault to murder, intimidation of a witness, three counts of carrying without a license, and nine counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, the Cape Cod Times reported. He pleaded not guilty.
