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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Why the Mass. medical examiner's office bought Boston Dynamics' robot dog
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Watch out for what could be pretty strong thunderstorms tonight.
But first, the news:
See Spot run… a postmortem exam? The Massachusetts medical examiner’s office will soon welcome a new member to its staff: Spot, a dog-like robot from Boston Dynamics. State officials purchased the Waltham-based company’s viral, if slightly unnerving, robot last month to expand their telepathology program, which allows doctors to remotely examine bodies with its moveable cameras. As The Boston Globe reported yesterday, Massachusetts is apparently the first medical examiner’s office in the country to use robotic dogs in its work. “This sophisticated technology offers wide-ranging uses, such as personnel protection from infectious exposure and chemical hazards, data collection and analysis, among other essential continuity of operations and resiliency functions,” a spokesperson for the office told WBUR.
- Zoom in: The examiner’s office said it won’t use Spot for any full autopsies, homicides or other complex cases. However, they do conduct about 4,700 less-intensive external exams a year, and “a subset” of those bodies can be examined remotely. The office has used a more limited technology at its Cape Cod branch to conduct about 300 remote external exams since 2021. However, that work requires an on-site assistant. Officials say having a camera that can be operated remotely without an assistant — like Spot — would be better.
- Is it worth it? Spot was reportedly purchased for a hefty $269,725. But officials say it will help its Boston office amid a growing caseload and national shortage of forensic pathologists. (The Globe found in January that overtime spending at the examiner’s office nearly doubled in recent years, from $408,000 in 2020 to $800,000 in 2023.)
- Zoom out: It’s not Spot’s first foray into a medical setting. Some local hospitals, like Brigham and Women’s, tested out the robot during the COVID pandemic to limit staff exposure to the virus. Law enforcement agencies from Massachusetts to New York to Hawaii have also enrolled Spot for tasks ranging from intervening in dangerous situations to testing for fevers among those experiencing homelessness.
On Beacon Hill: After a few delays, the Massachusetts Senate passed its new climate bill to speed up clean energy projects by a vote of 38-2 last night. The bulk of the proposed permitting changes are “pretty boring stuff,” said state Sen. Michael Barrett, but “important” to the state’s transition away from fossil fuels. The bill also includes tweaks to incentivize more electric vehicles and phase out third-party competitive electric suppliers. (It remains unclear if the House will get on board with all the proposals.)
- The Senate also added a provision to the bill yesterday to increase the state’s bottle deposit law from 5 cents to 10 cents. Plus, it would expand the program to most beverage containers, including the small alcohol bottles/litter headaches known as “nips.”
Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy is closing. The small, private Christian college announced yesterday it will transition to a “new educational enterprise” under a plan approved this week. Leaders cited “significant financial headwinds” that have only “intensified.”
- School officials say they plan to continue teaching students on track to graduate this year, while all others will be offered streamlined transfers to Gordon College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University or Trevecca Nazarene University.
Salem will begin removing a long-standing homeless encampment in the city’s downtown area today. It comes after elected officials passed an ordinance banning camping in public areas this spring — yes, similar to what Boston passed to remove tents from the Mass. and Cass area.
- The Globe reports outreach workers have spent the last month working to relocate people living in the camp, which officials say has become the site of drug sales and violence.
I’ve got the power: Avangrid, the company behind Vineyard Wind, says it’s now the largest offshore wind project operating in the U.S. There are now 10 turbines spinning their blades off the coast of Massachusetts, generating more than 136 megawatts of power. (That’s enough to power 64,000 homes.) And that’s only a fifth of the electricity it’s expected to produce by the time the project is done.
P.S.— If you’re looking to escape the humidity after work, there are still tickets left for tonight’s CitySpace conversation with New York Times correspondent Edward Wong. He’ll talk to Here & Now co-host Scott Tong about his new book, which covers more than 80 years of his family’s history, while also grappling with modern-day China’s global expansionist vision and economic wealth.
