Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, recently welcomed the introduction to “Benzie the Dronedog,” a robot dog that has facial recognition capabilities that will patrol the stadium to keep security.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle broke the news last week on its debut, just ahead of the start of NFL football season.
Arthur M. Blank (AMB) Sports & Entertainment LLC, which owns the stadium, says this is first time their company has ever done something like this, and is part of a wider push by the Arthur M. Blank Family of Businesses to become an early-adopter of new modern technologies throughout the stadium.
We have to innovate continuously.
Do you want to work out here at 2 a.m.? It didn’t replace a human. We want to make that clear. We actually added by getting him.
I’d rather this be out there. For us it’s a walking body cam.
Eric Young, Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s director of physical security and parking, said
Even so, Young concedes that Benzie’s introduction looks a little dystopian and comes out of a sci-fi police state. “It’s like the Terminator … It’s creepy,” he said.
Even ESPN uploaded a TikTok of the new quadbot with eerie music playing over it.
The robot is manufactured by the renowned Boston Dynamics company that produces some of the most state-of-the-art robots in the world today. The robot is remotely controlled by Asylon, a robotics firm that offers perimeter security for companies including the U.S. Air Force.
According to The ABC, ‘An Asylon operator stationed in Philadelphia maneuvers Benzie, dubbed a DroneDug, from sunset to sunrise. It sends real-time video with 1080p color and night vision capabilities to security monitors inside the stadium. Its battery lasts 1.5 hours, and it runs in half hour shifts. The machine docks and charges in an air-conditioned “dog house.”‘
Moreover, ‘Benzie is meant to tackle dull, dirty and dangerous tasks — lower level functions like aimlessly patrolling the graveyard shift looking for nefarious acts. They are not meant for the human condition,’ Michael Quiroga, Asylon’s chief revenue officer said in a statement.
The robot can also read license plates and sniff for explosives and narcotics, according to the manufacturer’s website.
We deploy to outperform those tasks. A lot of reactions are that they can’t hire enough labor for some of this. There is not enough people to fill these gaps.
You get that initial knee-jerk reaction and then start to see the bonding. Then everyone wants a selfie with it.
Quiroga added
The robodog is set to receive a new updates in soon that will allow that allows handlers to speak through the droid, or spout off prerecorded messages.
Benzie officially launched in April ‘in which the night-vision “puppy pack” camera system made more than 10 encounters with humans. They included distress calls from people on park benches. Guards stationed in the central security office see the interactions in real-time and can then call police or send out staff,’ The ABC also noted.
Sportskeeda noted that in February, during a pre-Super Bowl concert, performing artist Jason Derulo danced with robodogs on stage, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The outlet questions if the owners of the Mercedes Benz Stadium took notice and were inspired to adopt the robodogs also.
Yesterday The WinePress reported how surveillance drones were deployed across New York City to spy and monitor on Labor Day gatherings and parties. New York City has already deployed robodogs identical to Benzie already, The WP noted in a separate report.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
As I reported yesterday with the drones in New York City and California, the dystopian nature of this is coming in so extremely fast it’s just unbelievable sometimes to realize it. But since people love their football and their pleasure more then basic liberties, the masses will tolerate more and more of it.
But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
Jeremiah 22:17
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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