A headless robot the size of a Labrador Retriever will camouflage itself as a coyote or fox to scare away birds and other wildlife at Alaska’s second-largest airport.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities named the new ‘robotic dog’ Aurora after the Northern Lights and said it will be based at the Fairbanks airport to ‘reduce dangers to wildlife.’
The transportation department posted a video on Instagram of the robot climbing rocks, climbing stairs and doing something resembling a dance while flashing green lights.
In the video, it looked like Aurora could handle all types of surfaces. She could be seen climbing stairs with ease and scampering over steep, rugged terrain.
In the video a text appeared that said: ‘Aurora is ready for her first day!’
Aurora, a ‘robot dog’ will have the task of keeping an Alaska airport free of birds and other wild animals that could pose a threat to aviation in the area
By changing its panels, the robot can be made to look like a coyote or a fox.
A blurb of pink letters appeared under the robot-puppy’s head and said, “Cute face.”
‘Meet Aurora!’ The text exclaimed. He continued: “DOT&PF’s newest employee.” An emoji of a robot and a dog appeared on the screen.
‘She’s excited to start working soon!’ the video said while showing the robot running in place with quick and agile movements.
Then the strange video said: ‘She’s our robotic dog!’ and showed Aurora running next to a lake.
But the funny subtitles, as well as the light-hearted tone of the video, did little to minimize how creepy the robot looked. The machine seemed fast and agile, and disturbingly fast.
You should have no problem scaring away wildlife and probably some humans too.
Some viewers expressed their disapproval of the robot in the comments section.
“Please spend our money cleaning up our roads,” one person wrote.
“How much taxpayer money was spent on this unnecessary abomination?” asked another.
And one viewer simply said: ‘I’m not going to lie.’ Creepy.’
The Instagram caption said the robot was equipped with a variety of vivid colors, meant to evoke images of Alaska’s northern lights.
“Swirls of vibrant colors, ranging from deep indigo to emerald green, dance gracefully across Aurora’s metal frame, perfectly capturing the beauty of the Northern Lights.”
Aurora emits a green light that is intended to resemble the northern lights, hence the robot’s name.
The robot can handle all types of surfaces, including rough and steep terrain.
Aurora, unlike many other autonomous robots, can climb stairs with relative ease
Aurora will have to be able to do more than climb stairs this fall, when she will be tasked with chasing wildlife away from airport facilities.
Fall marks migratory bird season in Alaska, and Aurora will have to do her best imitation of predator movements to prevent birds and other wildlife from settling near martin fields.
The plan is for Aurora to patrol an outdoor area near the runway every hour in an attempt to prevent harmful encounters between planes and wildlife, said Ryan Marlow, program manager for the transportation department.
The robot, which does not use artificial intelligence but other cutting-edge technologies, can disguise itself as a coyote or fox by exchanging replaceable panels.
“The sole purpose of this is to act as a predator and allow us to invoke that response in wildlife without having to use other means,” Marlow told lawmakers last week.
The panels would not be hyper-realistic, and Marlow said the agency decided not to use animal skins to ensure Aurora remained waterproof.
The idea to use a robot came after officials rejected a plan to use flying drones that sprayed a repellent that included grape juice.
The robotic dog is completely waterproof and has been tested in snow and rain conditions.
Aurora was designed in-house by Boston Dynamics and its creation was subsidized by a federal grant.
Other previous deterrent efforts included officials releasing pigs into a lake near the Anchorage airport in the 1990s, hoping they would eat waterfowl eggs near airplane landing zones.
The trial period in Fairbanks will also see how effective Aurora would be as a deterrent with larger animals and how moose and bears would respond to the robot, Marlow told the Anchorage newspaper.
Fairbanks’ is leading the country in wildlife mitigation through the use of Aurora. “Several airports across the country have deployed robots for various tasks such as cleaning, security patrols and customer service,” agency spokesperson Danielle Tessen said.
In Alaska, wildlife service equipment is currently used to scare birds and other wildlife off trails with loud sounds, sometimes made with paintball guns.
Last year, there were 92 animal strikes near airports in Alaska, including 10 in Fairbanks, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database.
Most impacts caused no damage to the aircraft, but Marlow said encounters can be costly and dangerous in the rare case where a bird is sucked into an engine, which could cause an accident.
An AWACS plane crashed in 1995 when it collided with a flock of geese, killing 24 people at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.
The $70,000 robot can be operated by a computer or an automated schedule
The robot will be put to the test this fall, when it will be tasked with chasing birds out of the airspace during a migration season.
If the test is successful, Marlow said the agency could send similar robots to smaller airports in Alaska, which could be more cost-effective than hiring human deterrence teams.
Aurora, which can be controlled from a table, computer or on an automated schedule, will always have a human controller with it, he said. She can navigate in rain or snow.
At a joint transportation committee meeting, Marlow said he has been testing the robot in the water and has had no problems so far.
During the meeting, he boosted Aurora and demonstrated his skills to a rapt audience of Alaska officials.
“The balance and capabilities of these systems are quite impressive,” he said.
Using a remote control, Marlow made Aurora run in place at high speed and then change direction nimbly.
A man tried to push the robot, but Aurora, who was very well balanced, remained upright.
“You can see it can show off pretty well,” Marlow said.
The Boston Dynamics robot cost about $70,000 and was paid for with a federal grant.