HPD’s robot dog Spot helps keep COVID numbers down

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Honolulu Police Department provided an update on its newest tool which is a robot dog.

Spot is a $150,000 robot purchased earlier this year.

Spot is used to screen individuals at homeless sites on Oahu.

HPD says since the start of the pandemic, the sites have taken in more than 1,700 homeless individuals, and have had only 14 COVID positive cases.

They believe the mitigation procedures put in place and other technology such as Spot have helped keep the COVID numbers down.

“Having the ability to deploy something that can do all the interaction with someone on a mobile platform,” said Lt. Dan O’Neal of the Honolulu Police Department.”It takes the possibility of transmission out of the equation. For me I really don’t think over the long term $150,000 is a waste.”

Spot is able to take a person’s temperature from seven feet away in a fraction of a second.

It also has two-way communication capability.

It can deliver PPE, food and water to someone who does test positive for COVID.