Boston Dynamics stands by $1.3M ICE robot-dog deal as staff revolt

More than 300 Boston Dynamics employees, about a fifth of the company's roughly 1,400-person workforce, signed a September letter asking executives to pull out of a $1.3 million deal supplying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement with modified Spot robot dogs. Interim CEO Amanda McMaster said no, Ars Technica reported.

About half the signatures were anonymous. The letter, shared with The Boston Globe and WBUR, told executives that "we cannot be proud of working at BD when that work is being used by a government agency that brutalizes civilians," and warned the sale "presents us as working directly with ICE." Employees said the reputational risk was "too great to continue with this deal," and could push staff to quit or deter new hires.

McMaster, replying to staff, pointed to Boston Dynamics' anti-weaponization guidelines and said the Department of Homeland Security is bound by strict terms prohibiting the use of the robots to harm or intimidate people. She asked employees to "respect and accept this decision, even if you do not agree with it."

The customer on paper is Radeco, a Plainfield, Connecticut firm that customizes Spot into a kit nicknamed Cerberus, after the mythical three-headed dog guarding the gates of hell. The September 25 DHS award covers four robots with front-mounted manipulation arms at $75,000 apiece and thermal zoom cameras at $49,250 apiece, plus 360-degree cameras, infrared thermal imaging, an oxygen sensor, and sensors tuned for explosives and radiation. Homeland Security Investigations plans to use them to inspect tunnels, crawl spaces and the tops of closets along the border for drugs, trafficking victims and contraband.