A robot dog will protect an Alaska airport from wild animals.

A new robotic dog will monitor wildlife at Fairbanks International Airport, Alaska, and scare animals away from the runway, reports DNA.

Photo: iStock.com/sarawuth702

A dog-like robot is being tested to repel wild animals at an airport. It will be disguised as a coyote or fox, state officials say.

Different opinions

The Alaska Department of Transportation posted a short video on Instagram of a robot dog named Aurora. The department called him a “new employee of the department.” The comment underneath said the robot would be based at Fairbanks Airport, where it would “improve airport safety and efficiency.”

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In the video, the insect-like headless robot, about the size of a large dog, climbs rocks, climbs stairs and dances while flashing green lights.

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Not everyone who saw the post was delighted.

“We don't want robotic surveillance dogs here, even if they're chrome-colored,” one user noted.

“I saw that episode of Black Mirror,” wrote another, referring to the dystopian sci-fi series that explores humanity’s relationship with technology. “This doesn’t end well.”

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Robots in service

The use of robots by government agencies has become more common, leading to some skepticism and controversy. The New York Police Department recently retired a 180-pound robot that the agency planned to use as a mobile surveillance camera in the Times Square subway station. This idea has raised many questions among privacy rights advocates.

Last year, Portland police introduced an autonomous security robot for street surveillance, and the Anchorage Police Department has a robot in its bomb squad.

In Alaska, agencies are increasingly using technology to monitor earthquake and avalanche damage and road conditions. New technologies are helping us respond faster to natural disasters and in search and rescue efforts.

Law enforcement agencies in the state currently use small drones and robots to defuse bombs and participate in search and rescue operations, but they have no plans to introduce autonomous robots for other purposes.

Fighting wild animals

The Alaska Department of Transportation's robotic dog has a different goal. Aurora's main job at the airport is to discourage birds and other wildlife from settling near the runways. Robots will imitate the movements of predators.

The Boston Dynamics robot cost about $70 and was funded by a $000 million federal grant.

Already this fall, at the beginning of the migratory bird season, a robotic dog will patrol the open area near the runway hourly. The robot is designed to prevent dangerous encounters between aircraft and wild animals, especially birds.

Aurora is equipped with interchangeable panels that allow her to disguise herself as a coyote or fox.
Experts want to test how larger animals, such as moose and bears, will react to it.

Currently, at airports across the state, wildlife crews are using loud noises from poppers and paintball guns to scare away birds and other wildlife. They cut the grass and dry out the ponds to make these areas unattractive to animals.

The teams provide critical services to prevent aircraft collisions with wildlife.

Wildlife - a danger to aviation

Previous efforts were even more outlandish: In the 1990s, airport officials released pigs near Lake Hood in Anchorage. They hoped the pigs would eat waterfowl eggs near airplane landing sites.

Wildlife poses a serious threat to aviation security.

There were 92 animal collisions near Alaska airports last year, including 10 at Fairbanks Airport, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database.

Most of these encounters, fortunately, resulted in no damage to the airliner, since a collision between an airplane and a bird is fraught with expensive costs and dangerous consequences. When a bird gets caught in an engine, it often ends in disaster.

In 1995, an AWACS aircraft at Elmendorf Air Force Base collided with a flock of geese and crashed, killing 24 people. Wildlife threat management teams now scare away thousands of birds every year to avoid disaster.

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If Aurora succeeds in scaring away birds and other wildlife in Fairbanks, the agency will charge a fee to send similar robots to rural airports. This can be more cost-effective than hiring wildlife specialists.

Multifunctional assistant

Boston Dynamics' entry-level robotic dogs are used in factories, research labs and construction sites to monitor daily operations, scan for potential hazards and conduct safety inspections, according to the company's website.

Aurora is the first robot of its kind to help protect the airport from wildlife. The robot can be controlled from a tablet, computer, or automated according to a schedule. Its body is waterproof. He is able to move left, right, forward, backward and even jog.

Aurora can navigate through water and snow, can identify objects in its path to avoid collisions, and can communicate remotely with aircraft pilots.

The robot's advantage over real dogs is its ability to work 24 hours a day without rest or food, and to collect useful data about every encounter with wild animals using a built-in camera.

Aurora will always have a human operator until safety parameters are established by experts.

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