Thursday dark , the Dallas Police Department ( DPD)used a dud disposal robot with deadly force . After hours of negotiations failed , the police force lash a pound of C4 and a detonation cord to the robot , maneuvered the robot near the suspect , and explode , killing the 25 - year - quondam defendant Micah Johnson . In a police statementissued on Saturday , the DPD named the bot used in this unprecedented operation — the Remotec Andros F5 manikin .
Although no longer sold by Remotec , the F5 seems to be an earlier modelof the current Andros F6 bomb disposal robot . According to a2012 product weather sheet , the new F6B can channel up to 60 lbs with its weapon system fully extended , meaning its one pound , lethal load was n’t even secretive to the maximum amount it could carry .
Remotec calls the F6 “ the most trusted and reliable system for unmanned first response . ” Original write up suggested that the robot used in Thursday ’s procedure could have been a Marcbot , a simpler automaton which had previously been used in a similar , extemporise way by the armed force in Iraq .
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But where the Marcbot weighs about 30 lbs and is little more than a remote - controlled elevator car with an extension sleeve , the Andros F - series has a Swiss Army knife of emergency lineament , including a manipulator arm , gripper , and a 24 - column inch television camera extender . It weighs a backbreaking 490 lb , but can easy climb stairs thanks to its stride . This likely add up in ready to hand as the Dallas crap-shooter was cornered on the 2nd floor .
In the few days follow the warmness - wrenching upshot in Dallas , a argument is stirringon how to wield this new use of police force . In the new statement , the DPD says the robot was used as a “ last resort ” so as to save the lives of extra military officer and civilian . Other law delegacy like the NYPD have praise the DPD for its unprecedented use of a bomb calorimeter disposal robot , according toThe New York Daily News . effectual expert , however , raise concern about the unmanned aspect of lethal police action , comparingthe usage of explode golem to drone on warfare .
The argument will probably stay on in the get along days , week , and months , and the Remotec F - series will be the golem at the pith of it all .
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