New York City firefighters unleashed a robotic K-9 unit named “Spot” to search for survivors covered in debris from the collapsed Lower Manhattan parking garage that killed one person and injured five others.
Around 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the second floor of the five-story parking structure gave way and collapsed onto the ground floor on Ann Street, where multiple cars piled on top of one another as victims searched for shelter.
As the dust from the wreckage settled, authorities with the Fire Department of New York deemed the structural integrity of the nearly 100-year-old building unsafe and deployed Spot the robodog into the rubble in place of human firefighters, the New York Post reported.
“Thank God we had the robotic dog that was able to go in the building,” Mayor Eric Adams said. “This is ideally what we talk about not sending a human being inside a building as unstable.”
Authorities purchased the $75,000, 70-pound robotic pooch manufactured by Boston Dynamics last year for search-and-rescue purposes.
Chief John M. Esposito, the Fire Department’s chief of operations, said at a news conference — reported by The New York Times — that he believed all the workers at the garage had been accounted for after officials received reports that people were trapped inside the structure.
Esposito added that the fire department “deployed our robot dog into the building,” which gave “us a video inside, and then we’re able to fly drones inside to conduct an assessment and conduct searches,” Esposito added.
The posted video on Twitter showed the $75,000 technologically advanced pooch walking toward a pile of building debris before falling on its side after attempting to climb over it.
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“Oh, that didn’t work out for the dog so well,” a witness said in the video posted to Twitter by user DaDa Rocks.
The @FDNY robot dog on the scene. #fidi #garagecollapse pic.twitter.com/JAHc3abVsD
— DaDa Rocks! (@dadarocks) April 18, 2023
The assistance from Spot comes a week after Mayor Adams unveiled the “Digidog” with two other pieces of technology the New York City Police Department plans to roll out in the city, arguing the advanced equipment is crucial for resident safety as crime increases citywide and the department struggles to manage its limited resources effectively.
Authorities claim the unit would assess high-risk situations and “undoubtedly” save the lives of police officers and the public. The device would be used to de-escalate situations involving hostage negotiations, counterterrorism incidents, and others, as needed, NBC reported.
Other technology introduced on Tuesday by city officials included a device called StarChase, a pilot program that allows authorities to track vehicles using GPS-enabled devices attached to projectiles to locate ghost cars and cars with stolen plates.
“This is a game changer,” the NYPD said.
City officials also unveiled the K5 Autonomous Security Robot pilot program, which patrols confined areas indoors and outdoors to provide incident notification in real-time to first responders. Authorities hope to use the technology starting this summer.