Italy's military police force has unveiled a new star recruit - a robot dog called Saetta.
The crime-fighting technology comes from the U.S. and is armed with a range of capabilities to help officers in high-risk situations.
The Carabinieri's Lieutenant Colonel Luca Ciabocco oversaw the deployment and says it's the first police robot dog in Italy.
"We are very proud to be the first to acquire this kind of technology and we believe that this technology will have big developments in the future," Ciabocco told CGTN.
Saetta can identify threats such as explosives or chemical agents. /CGTN
The robot can be operated from 150 meters away to reach terrain otherwise inaccessible to normal vehicles. It can also climb stairs, open doors and retrieve objects.
According to Ciabocco: "Saetta allows us to raise our level of security because our Carabinieri officers can operate remotely and not intervene directly in situations of very high risk."
Saetta is working with the Carabinieri's bomb squad as it has laser and thermal detection systems that allow it to identify threats such as explosives and chemical agents.
Gianluca Tizzani, a Carabinieri warrant officer, is one of the specialist officers trained to use the technology.
Tizzani told CGTN: "Saetta is an important innovation for us because we have the possibility to develop the phase of reconnaissance in emergency situations in a secure manner. It is controlled thanks to a tablet with a console and joypad and the software is very intuitive. It has sensors that help it avoid obstacles."
Saetta is working alongside Carabinieri officers in high-risk situations. /CGTN
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The robot model Spot was officially launched by U.S. company Boston Dynamics in 2016, with a price tag of $278,000.
It has since been distributed in 35 countries for a range of uses. The latest models integrated with Chat GPT-4 can now process images and languages.
Ciabocco says that one day Saetta too could have a voice, and even playmates of his own.
He said: "At the moment we don't exclude that in the future Saetta will have friends like him that will participate in active army operations."
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