The United States sent robot dogs to the Mexican border as "mechanical reinforcement" to border guards to prevent the mass arrival of irregular migrants.
An initiative heavily criticized by human rights organizations that denounced an attack on "civil liberties".
The company that makes these robot dogs, Ghost Robotics, is the same company that has devised another type of quadruped armed on the back with sniper rifles. The Homeland Security Department downplayed and spoke of a "simple hand, nay, paw" to border patrols.
The robot dogs were tested in El Paso, Texas. "They have been programmed to carry out a sentinel service," the Homeland Security Department said, suggesting that the 45-pound artificial animals could also serve "as a cover" for border guards.
However, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked Washington to withdraw the robot dog plan because it is "disastrous for civil liberties" and has asked the White House to "halt the descent of the United States into a dystopian anti-migrant reality".
(Unioneonline / D)