A robotic dog was used in a recent Hyannis police operation. What else are they used for?

After the Massachusetts State Police sent a robotic dog into the house of a Hyannis man during a seven-hour standoff last week, the man — who periodically fired at police — shot and damaged the mechanical canine, known as Spot.

Boston Dynamics, the Waltham-based manufacturer of the canine robot, said it was the first instance globally of a robot in the field being shot at and damaged.

“Yeah, this is a unique situation, we haven’t had this happen before,” said Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and government relations at Boston Dynamics. “Obviously, we are very supportive of our public safety customers, and we're delighted that the robot helped keep people safe by being placed in harm's way as a machine rather than a person.”

On March 6, state police sent the robotic dog into the house of Justin Moreira, 30, during the standoff in an attempt to locate and convince him to come out of the house peacefully. Authorities said Moreira, who was armed and had fired on police, shot at the robot, partially disabling it.

Police later found 37 shell casings from three different firearms at the crime scene.

Police later took Moreira into custody without injury. He is being held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility and was arraigned on Thursday in Barnstable District Court. According to the Cape and Islands District Attorney's office, he is scheduled to appear at a probable cause hearing on April 4.

The state police did not respond to three emails and one phone message from the Times requesting comment.

The many uses of Spot the robot dog

Boston Dynamics spokesperson Kerri Neelon said there are thousands of Spots in the field, many of which are used for industrial purposes such as power plant and factory inspections. But she said various law enforcement agencies and first responders use them.

“Spot helps keep people out of harm’s way and aids first responders in assessing dangerous situations,” Neelon said. “Specific applications include things like hazardous gas detection, unexploded ordnance inspection, suspicious package investigation, search and rescue, subterranean or confined space exploration, and structural assessments following fires, disaster events and other hazards.”

Last year during a parking garage collapse in Manhattan, the New York City Fire Department used a Spot robot to enter the collapsed structure in an attempt to search for anyone trapped. The robot found one person who was dead, Schulman said.

That enabled rescuers to avoid sending workers into an unstable collapsed structure because there was no one to rescue, he said. "This is a clear example of sending a machine rather than a person into a dangerous environment.”

In Los Angeles, a Spot robot was used during a standoff where the suspect had dropped his firearm. The robot relayed footage of the discarded firearm to officers on the scene, and the police were able to apprehend the individual.

In another incident in St. Petersburg, Florida, a man had kidnapped a 3-year-old and was driving away in a truck when he crashed on the highway. Schulman said police used the Spot robot to approach the truck before officers did to see if the man had a gun.

“Using that streaming video, the officials determined that there was no firearm, and they could then, therefore, approach the vehicle, and they rescued the child unharmed,” Schulman said.

How much does a canine robot cost?

According to news reports, a Spot robot can cost between $80,000 and $278,000, depending on the configurations the customers require.

Schulman said they do not disclose the exact cost of Spot robots because they vary on a case-by-case basis, but their policy is strict in outlining what they can and cannot be used for.

“We've been very proactive from the beginning of our commercial sales process to prohibit the weaponization of Spot or the use of the robot to harm or intimidate any person or animal,” he said.

Recently, state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northhampton, and Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, filed a bill that would ensure advanced robots are used responsibly by prohibiting the manufacture and purchase of such technology outfitted with a weapon.

Schulman said he testified in support of the bill in November.

“And it's very important because we want to make sure that as the robots are introduced into places where people live and work, that everyone understands that they're here to do good things for people, to protect lives, and there's no reason to be alarmed about them,” Schulman said.

Walker Armstrong reports on all things Cape and Islands, primarily focusing on courts, transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at WArmstrong@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jd__walker.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Robotic dog Spot helped end seven-hour standoff with police in Hyannis