Boston Dynamics turns down petition with about 300 signatures to cancel $1.3 million ICE robot sale
Boston Dynamics employees sent a petition with about 300 signatures in September asking the company to cancel a $1.3 million sale of four Spot robots to ICE. Management declined, and a spokesperson said nearly half the signatures were anonymous.
About 300 Boston Dynamics employees signed a petition in September asking the company to cancel the sale of four Spot robots to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WBUR and The Boston Globe reported on Oct 23. Leadership declined.
The robots go to ICE through Radeco, a Connecticut reseller that adds a robotic arm, a thermal camera and sensors for explosive materials to a machine it calls Cerberus, so Boston Dynamics sells at one remove, and its ethical principles promise "appropriate measures" against misuse without saying what those are.
Amanda McMaster, then interim CEO, told staff she was "standing behind the decision to move forward with this and other potential sales to government customers" and asked them to respect it. The company's sale terms prohibit weaponizing its robots, and it says DHS must follow them. If Boston Dynamics has a way to check how Radeco or ICE uses the modified robots, neither report describes it.
A spokesperson said nearly half the signatures came in anonymously and that signers are a minority of a workforce the Globe puts at 1,400 and WBUR at more than 1,500.
The company says the robots go to ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit, which it says works mainly on transnational crime rather than removal operations, and DHS calls Spot a tool to assess dangerous situations before sending in officers.
Sources Sources verified
- 1.The Boston Globe: Boston Dynamics workers oppose the company's robot dog use by ICE (Oct 23, 2026)bostonglobe.com
- 2.WBUR: ICE wants robot dogs. Boston Dynamics' workers urge company to 'cancel the sale' (Oct 23, 2026)wbur.org
- 3.The Boston Globe: ICE to buy modified Boston Dynamics robot dogs in $1.3 million contract (Sep 29, 2026)bostonglobe.com
- #robot ethics
- #government contracts
- #quadruped robots
- #Boston Dynamics
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