The New York City Fire Department has purchased two Spot robotic dogs from Boston Dynamics to use while conducting operations in hazardous environments.
FDNY is the first fire department in the country to add the 70-pound robotic dogs that cost around $75,000 each.
The dogs can provide vital information during disastrous events. They can be deployed moments after a building collapse to gauge structural integrity or measure the concentration of toxic, flammable gasses like carbon monoxide to better inform firefighters responding to the scene, The New York Times reported.
Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson said, in the Bronx, where 17 people were killed in an apartment fire earlier this year, using the robots to enter hazardous conditions could save the lives of firefighters and others.
The department hopes to deploy the robotic dogs in the next few months, the robots will only collect information related to hazardous situations, according to fire officials.
