For the last four years, the Spot robot, which resembles a dog, has been one of the most nimble machines that Boston Dynamics has made accessible to a variety of businesses for the purpose of testing it out as a robotic work companion.
Ford has already put Spot to use in order to perform a variety of activities on an oil and gas production vessel in Norway. Additionally, Spot has been used to scan the changing layout of one of Ford’s buildings which is now under construction.
Nevertheless, the most recent deployment is more concerned with frightening the living hell out of the surrounding fauna than it is with enhancing the productivity of the office.
Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska is hoping that the appearance of the robot, which they have dubbed Aurora, would be sufficient to frighten away birds and other critters if they stray too near to airport territory, particularly the runway. The airport has christened the robot Aurora. Bird attacks on aircraft engines are a significant safety problem for airport operators. The solutions that are now in use to dissuade birds from attacking aircraft engines include the use of loud sounds such as alarms and sirens. Additionally, efforts are made to make the environment around the airport less favorable for animals.
Recently, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities posted a little video on Instagram showcasing its newly hired employee, who the department said would “enhance and augment airport safety and operations.”
Aurora is scheduled to be deployed in the autumn, which coincides with the beginning of the migrating bird season, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News. However, authorities are also interested in seeing how wildlife such as moose and bears respond to the robot. In order to make Aurora more effective, a disguise will be applied to the robot so that it seems to be a fox or a coyote.
“The sole purpose of this is to act as a predator, and allow us to invoke that response in wildlife without having to use other means,” Ryan Marlow, a program manager with the Alaska Department of Transportation, said recently. “This is the only way that we can accomplish this.” In the event that Aurora is successful in preventing animals from entering the airport, the authorities will explore deploying other robots to other airports in the vicinity.
But what if it does not work? Assuming this is the case, the airport may want to take into consideration this more fearsome robot that is used in certain regions of Japan to frighten bears away from cities and villages. The only concern is that it is so repulsive that it might wind up scaring the people who are traveling through the airport as well.
