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ICE plan to buy robot dogs spurs protest from hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees
(arstechnica.com)
Imagine working at Boston Dynamics and not seeing this coming.
this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2026
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While true, I'd rather see them protesting than not (as a consolation prize).
They're just complaining to protect their self-image. They'll go back to cashing their paychecks.
They tried to poach me. It probably would have been an amazing job, i knew a bunch of the people that would be on my team. Noped out.
Who did they think they were building the robogestapo for?
Either sabotage or GTFO.
Next month, 3D printing EMP parts is now outlawed.
3D printing EMP parts
It turns out, you can't make copper coils out of TPU...
As I think about it now, given the thermal conductivity of copper, I'd bet it would be damn near impossible to 3d print with it.
Laser sintering would probably work.
Perhaps.
And to be clear, I have no doubt that it could heat the copper, I just wonder if it can prevent the hot liquid copper being extruded from instantly melting the copper below it that was previously laid down.
I did some soldering with gold recently and was shocked at how well it conducted heat from one side of the part to the other. I'd get one wire attached to a contact and then when I brought a wire to the second contact, the first would melt and that wire detached.
It was frustrating.
Boston dynamics employees only now figured out what these robots mostly will be used for?
"They told me they'd be pets that would never die!"
Why do people everywhere have such shitty moral compasses? It's like nobody reads or watches anything or listens to anybody.
Did they think everybody's comments of horror were jokes? Do people just think bad shit never comes to fruition?
I spent my life in sales, and always knew that I could get a high paying gig in the tobacco industry, but that was a line I drew when I was young.
What the fuck did these people think their inventions would be used for?
Per their product page and personal sources (not secret, just doxxing risk):
They're great for construction sites, factory floors, hazard response, because they can move in places humans can't (or shouldn't) for inspections, documentation and such, while also more flexible in navigating obstacles than wheeled or tracked robots. They can monitor active operations with greater leeway because they're less concerned with safety risks.
If a chain snaps and a human was too close to heavy moving parts, that's a family's worth of pain, grief and worries over income, trauma for everyone present, and an expensive cleaning bill if you're an executive so devoid of empathy things need a price tag to move you.
If it catches a robodog, that's less than $100k of damages and maybe some extra footage to help avoid future accidents (and cleaning bills).
Ok? And police all over the world as well as the militaries of various countries buying them wasn't an issue?
V2 rocket company employees walked out in protest in Nazi Germany today over the fact Hitler authorized their use on German soil. One scientist on the protest lines was quoted as saying “we thought we were making weapons to kill the untermench outside our borders, using them on aryans is unconscionable”.
(Yes I know slave labor was heavily used in V production which only makes Boston Dynamics employees bigger monsters)
The day I first saw one of those doggy bots many years ago I said they will be used by police and armed forces. Fuck I hate being right sometimes.
Lincoln showed mercy and allowed conservatives to live. Now conservatives have concentration camps and robot dogs to brutalize tthe normal people.
Since their surrender in 1865, conservatives have been saying the civil war is not finished. Now I believe them. We are their enemy whether we like it or not. We will be killed as such unless we start fighting back.
What's it going to do anyway?
I still can't see why this is such a big story. A month or so ago I said they couldn't get half a dozen for $1.4M. Turns out they're getting 3 or 4. No idea what they intend to do with them, but American adults outnumber them about a million to one. And some of us have shotguns.
i mean, kind of better than real dogs.