‘Do not pet’: Why are robot dogs patrolling Mar-A-Lago?

The device has lately been spotted patrolling the perimeter of President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

“I don't know that anyone is tempted to pet these robot dogs. They do not look cuddly,” said Melissa Michelson, a political scientist at Menlo College.

Video of Spot strutting around the property has gone viral on TikTok - where reactions range from calling them cool and cute, to creepy - and become fodder for jokes on American late night television. But its mission is no laughing matter.

“Safeguarding the president-elect is a top priority,” said Anthony Guglielmi, US Secret Service chief of communications, in a statement to the BBC.

In the months leading up to the US presidential election, Trump was the target of two apparent assassination attempts. The first took place at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and the other occurred at the Mar-a-Lago golf course in September.

Citing “concern for operational security,” the Secret Service declined to answer the BBC’s specific questions about the use of robotic dogs in Trump’s security detail, including when the agency began deploying the device at his primary residence.

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