- Unauthorized avian presence detected. Engaging deterrent protocols. Woof. Woof. Woof.
With a shaking hand, you reach for the thing before you. It looks like a person, but as you tear the rubbery fake face off you reveal it to be…
A robot!
Foxes and coyotes living around the Fairbanks International Airport may soon be dealing with just such a science-fiction scenario. The airport is planning to unleash a dog-like robot to prowl its grounds.
The dog-bot is set to move around the airport in search of wildlife trying to establish itself in the area. After all, there’s a whole bunch of animals roaming just outside the Alaskan airport and let’s just say a fox getting sucked into a plane turbine would cause some issues.
Not everyone is on board with the Fairbanks Airport’s plan, however. The robot dog has inspired more or less outlandish conspiracy theories from people worried about their privacy and other matters.
Yet, the robot is still scheduled to start working this fall. We’ll have to wait and see if the airport’s plan works or whether the robot’s AI learns from the real animals and goes feral.
Spot the Bot
The robot that will be unleashed upon Fairbanks wildlife is manufactured by Boston Dynamics (ironically headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts). The company is famous for manufacturing frankly pretty mindblowing robots.
Fairbanks Airport has acquired the Spot model from Boston Dynamics. This four-legged bot is primarily designed for industrial manufacturing and construction tasks but it can be used for many other duties as well, thanks to its expandability with various modules.
At 44 inches long and roughly two feet tall (when walking), the Spot robot is about the size of a golden retriever. At least in that regard, it’ll be a perfect fit for scaring birds, rabbits, and other critters away from the airport.
The way the robot moves might also help in its duties. Despite its doglike name and general shape, the thing moves nothing like a dog.
Instead, it kind of… Skitters along in a manner that makes you think more of an insect.
But as we said, the added creepy factor might just make it even more off-putting to animals.
The robot that will patrol Fairbanks Airport will not be called Spot, however. Instead, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOTPF) announced on its Instagram page that it has dubbed its robot Aurora after the northern lights.
They’ve even given the robot an appropriately painted pearlescent shell that shines in hues of purple and green.
The airport paid around $70,000 for Aurora, with the money coming out of a $2 million federal grant. It’s scheduled to begin its job this wall as the migratory period is set to bring flocks of waterfowl to the airport.
Sadly, we couldn’t confirm whether Aurora will be clad in a rubber coyote costume or whether it will go about its business in its shiny Aurora Borealis paint job.
Not for Surveillance
Although Aurora seems fairly harmless (unless you’re a bird or something), some Alaskans would rather not have the thing around. Residents have voiced all manner of concerns about the robot, from valid to imaginative, shall we say.
Some people are simply put off by how the robot moves. We’ll have to admit, seeing the thing start scuttling along is a bit jarring at first.
“She looks like a giant bug! Kinda creepy,” one Instagram user wrote on the ADOTPF Instagram page.
“Thanks, I hate it,” another succinctly summarized their feelings.
Others, meanwhile, are worried that the robot will be used to spy on passengers moving through the airport.
“We DO NOT want to see surveillance robot dogs here, even if they are chrome colored,” a user commented.
Despite the Spot robot’s 360-degree horizontal field of view, ADOTPF assured the public that it has no intention to use Aurora — or any other robot for that matter — for surveillance. This dog-bot’s duties are strictly restricted to scaring away ducks, geese, and rabbits.
Then again… That’s exactly what they would say if they were planning on spying on people with the robot. We’re onto you, ADOTPF!