CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A new tool for law enforcement paid a visit to the Coastal Bend Tuesday morning. It’s a tool that federal agencies like the Army and Marine Corps have shown interest in.
It’s a four-legged friend without the fur or drool, but it can still sit and stay. It’s a computer like canine that was five years in the making.
“This is a vision 60 it’s a 60 millimeter in hip width it’s a robot a lot of folks refer to it as a robot dog,” said Cory Birum, Director of Business development for Ghost Robotics.
The purpose of this canine is to serve and protect law enforcement officers.
“The concept really is we send robots into environments where there may be hazards or dangers it gives law enforcement officers the opportunity to get eyes on a potential threat, send it in, keep officers safe,” said Birum.
Birum said although it can’t do things a furry canine can the four legs help it do just as much.
“It can climb stairs, it can walk through rocks, sand and water,” said Birum. “It can fall into water stand up and complete its mission.”
According to Birum the features this canine has helps get difficult jobs done.
“What you see on top of the robot is thermal cameras we’ve got four camera here on this pod that way officers can see at night in any direction,” said Birum.
Even though it can’t bark, there’s a way it can talk.
“It does make sounds, but it’s actually basically two-way communication," Birum said. "So if you’re driving the robot you can actually talk through the controller with a headset and issue commands, talk to somebody on the other end.”
Birum said over the last year they’ve been traveling the country showing the four-legged friend to different law enforcement agencies, one of those agencies is the Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office.
“Sheriff Kirkpatrick here, he’s very tech savvy. He leans forward he wants to keep his officers safe and when we get a phone call like that we get on a plane and come,” said Birum.
Kleberg County Sheriff Richard Kirkpatrick said they want to make sure this tool can keep their officers and community safe before adding it to their team.
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