BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — At the Massachusetts State House on Thursday, advocates pushed lawmakers to support a bill that would ban the weaponization of robots and drones.
One of the groups was Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics design company, which brought their robot dog, Spot, to the State House to show off its skills.
In 2022, Boston Dynamics, along with five other robotics companies, signed an open letter promising not to weaponize their advanced-mobility, general-purpose robots.
The responsible robotics bill was introduced in 2023, and it would make it illegal for people in Massachusetts “to manufacture, modify, sell, transfer, or operate a robotic device or an uncrewed aircraft equipped or mounted with a weapon.”
Brendan Schulman, Boston Dynamics’s Vice President of Policy and Government Relations, said that the bill would help prevent “reckless conduct by people who really have no business weaponizing a robot.”
“There are important exemptions for the U.S. military, defense contractors, and police bomb squads because we’re not concerned about those operations. Rather, we’re trying to make sure that when people have access to this technology, they aren’t going to misuse it,” added Schulman.
If passed, the bill would be the first of its kind in the country.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports.
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