By Samantha Kelly, Bloomberg News

Spot, the four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics Inc., is perhaps best known for its viral dance routines to songs like “Uptown Funk.” But beyond its playful antics, Spot’s ability to climb stairs and open doors signals a potentially controversial role as a policing tool.

Five years after its commercial debut, the 75-pound, German Shepherd-sized robot is increasingly being deployed by local law enforcement to handle armed standoffs, hostage rescues and hazardous materials incidents — situations where sending in a human or a real dog could be life-threatening.

More than 60 bomb squads and SWAT teams in the US and Canada are now using Spot, according to previously unreported data shared by Boston Dynamics with Bloomberg News.

A police officer holds a police dog from the RAID French national police unit specialized in the search of explosives as it inspects a Boston dynamics dog robot in the CMA CGM Tangram innovation and formation campus, in Marseille, southern France on May 8, 2024, ahead of a visit by the French President. (Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

The use of such technology raises questions about ethics, oversight and the risks of military-grade tools being deployed in civilian settings. Defense and public safety agencies are increasingly adopting cutting-edge technologies to enhance their operations. Defense tech funding has soared past $28 billion in 2025 — up 200% year over year, even as broader venture markets cooled, according to PitchBook data.

Robots in particular have been finding a home among law enforcement agencies. ICE, or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recently spent around $78,000 on a robot from Canadian tech manufacturer Icor Technology Inc. that can perform similar tasks as Spot and also deploys smoke bombs, according to contract records.

Spot’s role on law enforcement teams varies. In 2022, it approached a man who had crashed a car trying to kidnap his son in St. Petersburg, Florida, to keep an eye on the situation and see if he was armed. In Massachusetts last year, in two different incidents, it helped assess a chemical waste accident at a middle school in North Andover, and it intervened when a suspect in Hyannis took his mother hostage at knifepoint and fired at officers. Spot was deployed to corner him and police eventually followed with tear gas to apprehend him.

“It did its job,” said trooper John Ragosa, a Massachusetts State Police bomb squad member and the Spot operator assigned to the hostage-rescue mission. “The suspect was stunned, thinking ‘What is this dog?’”

Boston dynamics experimental robots are displayed during the CoHoMa Challenge event in a French Gendarmerie national military training camp in Beynes west of Paris, on May 6, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

The robot, which starts at around $100,000, can operate autonomously in many cases — performing maintenance checks, detecting gas leaks and inspecting faulty equipment — but still relies on human operators like Ragosa for decision making. Using a tablet that resembles a video game controller, an operator guides the machine while monitoring a live video feed from its onboard camera system. Additional built-in sensors handle navigation and mapping. During high-stakes situations, officers can also view the live feed on larger nearby screens.

Spot’s technology continues to evolve. The company recently added a mode to help Spot navigate slippery spots. And it’s working to help Spot better manipulate objects in the real world.

The use of robots in emergency situations is hardly new. Police bomb squads have relied on ground robots since the 1980s, but their deployment became more widespread in the early 2000s, according to Robin Murphy, a professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University. What makes Spot stand out, she said, is its four-legged design — giving it far greater agility and dexterity than traditional robots that move on tracks or wheels.

Roughly 2,000 Spot units are now in operation globally, Boston Dynamics said. The deployments include organizations such as the Dutch Ministry of Defense and Italy’s national police. While most of the company’s customers are still industrial clients, including manufacturers and utility providers, interest from law enforcement has surged over the past two years, said Brendan Schulman, Boston Dynamics’ vice president of policy and government relations.

The Massachusetts State Police currently owns two Spot robots — one purchased in 2020 and another in 2022 — each costing about $250,000, including add-ons, and funded primarily through state grants, Ragosa said. He said he hopes the agency will add a third unit soon. Some other major cities also have fleets: Houston operates three Spots, while Las Vegas has one, Boston Dynamics said.

Not all departments are equipped to own advanced robots, Murphy said, adding that the question is whether the high cost and complexity of legged robots are worth the extra mobility they provide.

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Costs aren’t the only concern. Some civil liberties groups and technologists warn that using semi-autonomous robots in law enforcement could normalize a more militarized approach to policing. In 2021, the New York Police Department suspended for a time its limited use of Spot following public backlash, with critics questioning both the expense amid city budget constraints and the robot’s broader role in surveillance. The NYPD later reinstated the program and went on to purchase two of the robots, according to Boston Dynamics.

Some larger police forces also deploy military-grade robots such as PackBots, originally developed by iRobot Corp. These portable machines can be teleoperated, using actuators to handle weapons or inspect suspicious packages, and can communicate with suspects during hostage situations via an onboard audio system. They have long been used in disaster response, including at the World Trade Center site in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, where they helped search through debris.

Boston Dynamics also says it requires its public safety customers to outline how exactly Spot will be used before they ship a unit.

Beryl Lipton, senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, said companies can only do so much to limit how their tools are used when they are in the hands of law enforcement.

“You can’t really rely on the goodwill of a particular company when it comes to almost any of these technologies,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who makes the gun — in general, there are rules about how guns get to be used.”

From a surveillance standpoint, Lipton said the EFF believes there should be state — and ideally federal — laws providing basic guidance on what is appropriate. While she acknowledged they aren’t going to “hold our breath” waiting for a specific application to be regulated, she emphasized the need for public disclosure and involvement from local city councils and elected oversight bodies.

She also expressed concern that the use of robot dogs helps law enforcement agencies put a friendly spin on the accumulation of technology that can be used for policing.

“One of the things about the so-called robot dogs that we are a little wary of is this normalization and this sort of affectionate framing of calling it a dog,” she said. “It’s normalizing that for the public when it’s not actually a dog. It’s another piece of police technology.”

Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law focusing on robotics law, said that the technology could deepen public skepticism toward law enforcement, and said clear guidelines are critical for safe deployment.

“The unease people feel around robotics is not just a psychological quirk,” he said. “They are disconcerting for a reason. The overuse of robotics in policing will further dehumanize police to the public and break down those community ties that have been so important to policing over so many years.”

Ragosa from the Massachusetts State Police said his force also uses drones and other robotics on certain missions. But the advantages of using Spot, in his view, is that it can often go where many other drones can’t, and it can work more efficiently than other robots. The battery life is also longer, he added: about an hour and a half for Spot, in his experience, compared with 20 to 30 minutes for drones.

It can also typically perform better indoors and be taught to run autonomous missions without a teleoperator, Calo said. “Few drones can do this reliably,” he said.

Still, Calo believes robotics can play a valuable role when used transparently and within clear boundaries.

“I don’t think every police officer needs a robot partner,” he said. “But the use of robots in certain situations that have been specified in writing in advance is good. No one wants police to risk their lives or fail to gain situational awareness during an emergency — nor do we want to live in a robotic police state.”

©2025 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By ALBERT STUMM, Associated Press

With a runway of smoking-hot coals laid out before them, residents in San Pedro Manrique, Spain, steel themselves as thousands of onlookers cheer them on. The crowd roars when they walk across the fire, sometimes carrying another person on their back.

Although the walkers and the crowd perform very different roles during the annual June ritual, they report similar feelings: an ineffable feeling of togetherness, as if the entire group becomes one, said Dimitris Xygalatas, a cognitive anthropologist at the University of Connecticut, who witnessed the Spanish ritual years ago as a researcher.

He has experienced similar feelings in a stadium while chanting and cheering together with 30,000 fans of his hometown soccer team. Both are instances of collective effervescence, said Xygalatas, author of “Rituals: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.”

FILE – People view a fire before walking on the burning embers during the night of San Juan in San Pedro Manrique, northern Spain, June 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos, File)

It’s that feeling that happens when people engage together in a meaningful activity that sparks positive emotions. Such as when you get goose bumps at a concert, feel the rush of adrenaline in group exercise classes or get swept up in religious festivals.

Recently, collective effervescence has been referred to as “we mode,” and it’s something that can be cultivated to improve your life, said Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford University health psychologist.

“When you are connected through shared positive emotion, expressions often act as this aerosolized joy, where you catch other people’s smiles, laughter, their physical expressions,” McGonigal said. “It becomes contagious.”

FILE – Fans react as the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of baseball’s World Series at a watch party on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)

When hearts beat as one

“We mode” has also been called physiological synchrony, and McGonigal calls it “collective joy.” The concept was documented more than a century ago by French sociologist Emile Durkheim, who described cultural effervescence after studying aboriginal Australian societies.

Xygalatas’ research has focused on measuring it in various group activities. To quantify “autonomic responses,” he has fitted people with heart monitors and electrodes and extracted thousands of stills from videos to analyze facial expressions.

FILE – Yeni Salazar, center, leads a Zumba class in Queen’s Elmhurst Memorial Park, Sept. 21, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

He found that people’s physiological responses synchronize during exciting events. The heartbeats of sports fans who attend a game, for instance, sync up, while those of fans watching the same game on TV don’t. Fans at the game also have higher levels of endorphins, which have been linked to bonding, he said.

On a basic level, collective rituals involve meeting and connecting with people, which is a key to psychological well-being, Xygalatas noted.

“If we all dress alike and we move alike and we feel alike, we express the same emotions that trigger mechanisms in our brain,” Xygalatas said. “There’s a fundamental need for synchrony.”

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Activities that create ‘we mode’

What kinds of activities should you look for to tap into “we mode”? McGonigal, who has studied the science of emotion and wrote “The Joy of Movement” about the emotional benefits of exercise, named these criteria:

The activity must be in person. McGonigal noted that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, people who tried to recreate positive interactions online found it more difficult than in person.

“If you’re not physically present with people, a lot of the signals that create the shared state, they just aren’t there,” she said.

It also helps to make noise and move your body, whether you cheer, applaud, move, dance or sing. McGonigal said you’re more likely to feel this kind of collective joy when you’re dancing with people than when you’re sitting in a theater watching a dance performance.

Also, try to let go of shame or self-consciousness, and get into the activity. Passive observers don’t get the same effect, McGonigal said.

“You’ve got to do the wave at the sporting event,” she said. “If you’re at a group exercise class, and your instructor is like, ‘Can I get a whoop, whoop?’ You gotta whoop, whoop.”

Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

Pioneer Press staffers who cover the Vikings take a stab at predicting the outcome of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Seahawks in Seattle:

Dane Mizutani

Seahawks 31, Vikings 20: Yes, the potential of Max Brosmer starting makes this game more interesting. No, it will not change the outcome against Sam Darnold, who has established himself among the NFL’s best quarterbacks.

Jace Frederick

Vikings 24, Seahawks 23: Brosmer goes 19 for 26 for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns.

John Shipley

Seahawks 32, Vikings 18: This one will be particularly difficult for Vikings fans, the manifestation of every bad offseason decision their team made last spring.

Charley Walters

Seahawks 38, Vikings 13: You thought last week’s loss to the Packers was awful, just wait until you see this one. Time to start over.

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St. Paul Mayor-elect Kaohly Her will soon take the reins at City Hall, though she isn’t new to elected office.

Before running for mayor, Her — who’s first name is pronounced “kuh-LEE” — spent nearly six years representing a St. Paul district in the Minnesota House of Representatives that includes the Union Park, Macalester-Groveland and Summit-University neighborhoods.

She first won the seat in 2018 after now-Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, launched a campaign for governor.

After one term in office, Her rose to the third-highest-ranking position in the Minnesota House DFL Caucus — majority whip. She has also served as deputy speaker pro tempore, who presides over House debate in the absence of the speaker.

Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, DFL-St. Paul, wipes away tears as she speaks against a bill removing undocumented adult Minnesotans from MinnesotaCare during debate in House chambers at the Minnesota State Capitol building on Monday, June 9, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Part of the campaign message that got Her elected mayor was her call for more focus on the basics of governing and improving “core city services.” Her’s reputation for organization and thoroughness as a lawmaker may help her achieve that goal, former colleagues said.

Those who have worked with Her at the state Capitol describe St. Paul’s next mayor as a pragmatic lawmaker with a deep understanding of process and keen attention to detail.

“She’s extremely organized. She’s extremely thorough. She’s nuts and bolts, brass tacks, no detail left unturned,” said Rep. Dan Wolgamott, a St. Cloud DFLer who was elected to the Legislature the same year as Her.

Pension commission

Wolgamott served on the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement with Her, who chaired the panel before leaving the House this year.

The commission doesn’t just budget for the next two years like the rest of the Legislature, he explained. It must balance the concerns of various public employee retirement plans while planning for the decades ahead.

This year, the pensions commission advanced a bill that boosted pensions for teachers, firefighters and police, which passed with largely bipartisan support, and nearly unanimous support in the House.

Wolgamott said he got to know his former House colleague better during the pandemic, when the Legislature held votes and hearings remotely. Wolgamott, Her and then-House Speaker Melissa Hortman had to be present at the Capitol, and as whip, Her had to double- and triple-check that members joining sessions by phone were present for votes.

But past that, Her made sure members were taken care of during long floor sessions, which at times can drag on into the early morning hours, according to Wolgamott. Target snack runs and a family egg roll recipe were just some of the ways Her kept members comfortable, he said.

“I think why she’s so successful is she has very high standards for how she operates,” Wolgamott said. “But she also looks after people and makes sure that people are cared for and validated and supported.”

Ability to compromise

Rep. Tim O’Driscoll, R-Sartell, worked with Her when she was chair of the Legislative Commission on Pensions and this year as co-chairs of the House Commerce Committee. He praised his former colleague for her ability to compromise.

“I think that the folks in St. Paul could benefit from that experience that she has in being able to … come to an equitable and workable solution,” the eight-term Republican lawmaker said. “It may take a couple of times to get there, but she’s willing to work, and she’s willing to let people continue to work on things till we get to the right answer.”

Compromise was especially crucial in this year’s closely divided Legislature. Last year, voters delivered a House of Representatives with 67 DFL and 67 Republican members.

O’Driscoll, who has served on the pensions commission for most of his legislative career, said Her’s finance background was invaluable in piecing together bills shaping payouts and retirement ages for teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees.

A lot of the work done on pensions and commerce doesn’t get much new coverage at the Capitol, something O’Driscoll said might be a sign of their success as policymakers.

“We both have always kind of lived by the idea that if you don’t hear about what we did, we must have done our job right,” he said.

Commerce committee

Commerce is one of the more powerful committees in the Minnesota House. It covers a broad range of policy areas, including financial services, insurance, consumer protection, energy and telecommunications.

“There’s a lot of revenue that flows in there, there’s a lot of regulation that flows through there, and usually bills that come out of there take bipartisan support,” said Rich Ginsberg, a lobbyist with decades of experience at the Minnesota Capitol.

This year, for instance, the Commerce committee handled bills on legal cannabis regulation, and created a new position to handle disputes between owners and tenants and homeowners’ associations.

It also advanced a bill to provide more support to the state’s reinsurance program — a program state officials said helped prevent health insurance premiums from increasing by 47% more than they already did this year.

Bills on tenant rights, reporting lost or stolen firearms

Besides her leadership on pensions and commerce, Her backed bills including those supporting tenants’ rights and a proposal to create a reporting requirement for lost and stolen firearms.

The gun theft bill, which would have required a gun owner to report a stolen weapon to law enforcement within 48 hours, passed in the House in 2024 but did not make it through the Senate.

In 2020, the Legislature passed a bill authored by Her banning the practice of child marriage in Minnesota. The bill barred any minors from marrying in the state.

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Ginsberg, who also praised Her for her thoroughness and preparation, said she was a good lawmaker for lobbyists to approach if they wanted a well-crafted bill that would pass, so long as they could convince her to take it on.

“I really believe that her legislative record and how she operates will serve the city and constituents very well,” he said. “I just think it’s going to be a little bit of a different approach.”