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What We Know About Chicago Police's Crime-Fighting Robot

By  Linze Rice and Tanveer Ali | July 20, 2016 5:46am 

 In 2006, the Chicago Fire Department's Special Operations Division bought the same type of gun robot used by the city's police department, a Remotec Andros F-6A.
In 2006, the Chicago Fire Department's Special Operations Division bought the same type of gun robot used by the city's police department, a Remotec Andros F-6A.
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DNAinfo/Linze Rice

EDGEWATER — On Monday afternoon, dozens of Chicago Police, SWAT team and EMS personnel were called to the Heart 'O' Chicago Motel while a man threatened to kill himself inside.

There was also another emergency responder on standby just down the block: a robot.

The robot is similar to the Remotec Andros Mark V-A1 used earlier this month in Dallas to kill Micah Xavier Johnson — a 25-year-old Army vet who shot and killed five Dallas police officers and transit workers and wounded seven others.

In that case, the robot detonated a plastic C4 explosive after Johnson and police exchanged gunfire. The event is believed to be the first time police in the United States used a robot for deadly force.

 During a standoff with a suicidal man who had barricaded himself in the Heart O'Chicago Motel in Edgewater, Chicago police and fire personnel deployed the robot, but did not appear to use it to engage the man.
During a standoff with a suicidal man who had barricaded himself in the Heart O'Chicago Motel in Edgewater, Chicago police and fire personnel deployed the robot, but did not appear to use it to engage the man.
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DNAinfo/Linze Rice

The appearance of a similar silver machine several days later in Edgewater caused confusion and concern as a SWAT team swarmed the motel.

"It must be serious," according to one onlooker at the scene.

A SWAT team was called Monday to the scene of a developing police situation at the Heart O' Chicago motel at 5900 N. Ridge Ave. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department would not "discuss tactics," but a set of documents dated between 2004 and 2007 outlined what a Remotec Andros F6A robot, made by the same company as the robot used in Dallas, could do for the city.

"The intended use of this robot is to perform remote operations on Improvised Explosive Devices," according to a Chicago Police Department procurement request from 2004.

In 2006, the Chicago Fire Department and Department of Aviation followed up requesting such a robot. The fire department said that the robot would aid the department's "ability to safely, effective, and efficiently provide hazardous material's (sic) and technical rescue response to Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) incidents."

The robot can run in an extended mode and has two-way audio capabilities for "hostage negotiations or negotiating with a barricaded suspect," according to a description of the device's capabilities included with city records.

It can traverse through 24-inch wide ditches and climb over 18-inch walls forward and backward.

Additionally, the F6A can pull a fire hose and direct its spray, disrupt explosives, collect and analyze air samples, detect video and audio with three cameras — including 360-degree views, night vision and zooming — and can detect and monitor chemical radiation.

The robot can climb and roll up the steps of an airplane and reach into overhead compartments, and can be utilized to detect chemicals in a weapons-of-mass-destruction scenario.

During the event Monday, in which no one was injured, police did say that the incident was not terrorism-related.

The Cook County Sheriff's Office has two similar robots, according to the Tribune.

In 2011, the city eventually approved a $570,000 contract with Remotec for the purchase of a "hazardous duty robot with maintenance agreement, parts and repair service."

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