WASHINGTON _ The Dallas Police Department's use of an explosives-armed robot against the man killing its officers Thursday night was a remarkable and perhaps inevitable weaponization of a familiar and popular technology.
Aided by federal grants and Defense Department assistance, hundreds of civilian agencies have purchased robots. But using an explosive ordnance disposal robot for a lethal purpose raises legal and policy questions.
"These EOD robots have been used for many things, but this was pretty unusual," said Dan Gettinger, co-director of Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone.
Elizabeth E. Joh, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, who specializes in surveillance and technology issues, said she thought the Dallas incident was the first time American police had intentionally used a lethal robot.
"We already see surveillance robots," Joh said. "But a robot that is capable of harming or killing people is a game changer."
It raises larger questions, Joh said, such as: When can the police justify the use of a lethal robot? Should we permit lethally armed robots to conduct ordinary police patrols? Should citizens be permitted to own lethally armed robots?
Dallas officials said Friday that officers attached a C4 explosive charge to the robot's extension arm, sent it toward the attacker�� identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson of Mesquite, Texas �� and remotely detonated it.
"This was a man we gave plenty of options to," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said.
"This must have been a pretty extreme situation, given how much those robots cost," said Sean Bielat, chief executive officer of robot manufacturer Endeavor Robotics.
Robots themselves take many forms, including 5-pound devices that can be thrown around for reconnaissance purposes, 20-pound and 65-pound devices and a 500-pound machine that Bielat's company makes for use with car bombs.
The military is the biggest market for the bomb-disposal robots, but the Pentagon has helped civilian law enforcement and emergency agencies obtain them.
From 2003 to June 2016, government records show, the Defense Department transferred 682 bomb-disposal robots to 241 agencies in 41 states. California received the most, at 160, followed by Texas, with 122.
Recipients included modest-size agencies, such as the Manteca Police Department in California's San Joaquin Valley, and federal law enforcement offices, like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Wichita, Kan.
"There's a very strong interest among law enforcement agencies in getting robots out there," Bielat said.
All of the nation's 470 bomb squads are equipped with robots, as are a number of the 2,200 SWAT teams. Police have sometimes equipped the robots with dispensers for firing tear gas or pepper gas.
The Tucson, Ariz., Police Department's SWAT team, for example, notes that "tactical robot operators" are among the team's specialists.
The most common police use, until now, was typified in a previous Dallas incident, in June 2015.
After James Boulware fired on police headquarters and exchanged gunfire with officers, police used an ordnance-disposal robot to confirm that Boulware was dead, and then check his armored van for explosives.
Gettinger said the U.S. military has experimented with equipping robots with grenade launchers and semiautomatic weapons, among other lethal devices, so far without marked success.
