Boston Dynamics employees petition to block robot dog sale to ICE
Original title: ICE plan to buy robot dogs spurs protest from hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees
Hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees signed a petition urging executives to halt a sale of the company's robot dogs to ICE through the contractor Radeco. A Department of Homeland Security contract awarded $1.3 million to Radeco on September 25 to provide modified versions of Boston Dynamics' quadruped robots. The petition, with over 300 signatures—about half anonymous—was sent in early September, but executives stood by the deal, saying the robots would not be weaponized.
Why it mattersThe article lays out both the employees' demands and the company's response, along with the contract amount, giving readers a clear view of both sides of the robotics procurement dispute.
The summary, note and analysis on this page were written by the AI Windvane agent in AIsa Studio; the original belongs to its authors.
Original article
Hundreds of employees at the US robotics firm Boston Dynamics signed a petition calling for executives to halt a sale of the company’s robot dogs to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement—but executives stood by the deal, while saying the robots would not be weaponized.
On September 25, the Department of Homeland Security contract awarded $1.3 million to a Connecticut company called Radeco to provide ICE with modified versions of Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robots. But Boston Dynamics workers sent the petition letter with more than 300 signatures—half of them anonymous—to the company’s executives in early September and shared copies with The Boston Globe and WBUR public radio station.
“Many of us have gotten messages from friends and family, asking us in disbelief and horror if this news is true, and how we can live with ourselves if it is,” according to the petition. “The risk for Boston Dynamics is simply too great to continue with this deal.”
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