Alaska airport hires ROBOT dog named Aurora to scare wildlife away from busy runway

A headless robot about the size of a Labrador Retriever will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to scare off 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 aurora borealis, and said it will be based at the Fairbanks airport for 'wildlife hazard reduction.'

The transportation department posted an Instagram video of the robot climbing rocks, going up stairs and doing something akin to dancing while flashing green lights.

In the video, it looked like Aurora could handle all types of surfaces. The robotic dog could be seen mounting stairs with ease and scampering over craggy and other rugged terrain.

Text appeared in the video that said: 'Aurora's ready for her first day!'

Aurora, a 'robot dog' will be tasked with keeping an Alaskan airport free from birds and other wildlife that might pose a threat to aviation in the area

By swapping out its panels, the robot can be made to resemble a coyote or a fox

A blurb of pink letters popped up under the robo-pup's head and said: 'Cute face.' 

'Meet Aurora!' The text exclaimed. It continued: 'DOT&PF's new hire.' An emoji of a robot and a dog appeared on the screen.

'She's excited to start work soon!' the video said as it showed the robot running in place with brisk and agile movements.

Then the bizarre video said: 'She's our robotic dog!' and it showed Aurora sprinting beside a lake.

But the playful captions, as well as the video's lighthearted tone, did little to minimize just how creepy the robot appeared. The machine looked swift and nimble, and unnervingly quick.

It should have no problem scaring off wildlife, and probably some humans, too. 

Some viewers voiced their disapproval of the robot in the comments section.

'Please spend our money on plowing our roads instead,' one person wrote.

'How much taxpayer money was spent on this unnecessary abomination?" asked another.

And one viewer simply said: 'Not gonna lie. Creepy.' 

The Instagram caption stated that the robot was outfitted 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 gracefully dance across Aurora's metallic frame, perfectly capturing the beauty of the aurora borealis.'   

Aurora flashes a green light that is meant to resemble the aurora borealis, after which the robot is named

The robot can handle all manner of surfaces, including rugged and craggy terrain

Aurora, unlike many other autonomous robots, can climb up stairs with relative ease

Aurora will have to be able to do more than climb stairs this fall, when it will be entrusted with staving off wildlife from the airport's premises.

Fall marks the migratory bird season in Alaska, and Aurora will have to do her best imitation of predator-like movements to keep birds and other wildlife from settling near plane infields.

The plan is to have Aurora patrol an outdoor area near the runway every hour in an attempt to prevent harmful encounters between planes and wildlife, said Ryan Marlow, a program manager with the transportation department.

The robot, which doesn't use artificial intelligence but other cutting-edge technologies, can be disguised as a coyote or a fox by swapping out replaceable panels.

'The sole purpose of this is to act as a predator and allow for us to invoke that response in wildlife without having to use other means,' Marlow told legislators last week.

The panels would not be hyper-realistic, and Marlow said the agency decided against using animal fur to make sure Aurora remained waterproof.

The idea of using a robot came after officials rejected a plan to use flying drones spraying a repellent including grape juice.

The robotic dog is thoroughly waterproof and has been tested in snowy and rainy conditions

Aurora was designed in-house by Boston Dynamics and its creation was subsidized by a federal grant

Previous other deterrent efforts have included officials releasing pigs at a lake near the Anchorage airport in the 1990s, with the hope they would eat waterfowl eggs near plane landing areas.

The test period in Fairbanks will also see how effective of a deterrent Aurora would be with larger animals and to see how moose and bears would respond to the robot, Marlow told the Anchorage newspaper.

Fairbanks 'is leading the country with wildlife mitigation through the use of Aurora. Several airports across the country have implemented robots for various tasks such as cleaning, security patrols, and customer service,' agency spokesperson Danielle Tessen said.

In Alaska, wildlife service teams currently are used to scare birds and other wildlife away from runways with loud sounds, sometimes made with paintball guns.

Last year, there were 92 animal strikes near airports across Alaska, including 10 in Fairbanks, according to an Federal Aviation Administration database.

Most strikes resulted in no damage to the aircraft, but Marlow said the encounters can be expensive and dangerous in the rare instance when a bird is sucked into an engine, potentially causing a crash.

An AWACS jet crashed in 1995 when it hit 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 charged with scaring birds away from the air space during a season of migration

If the test proves successful, Marlow said the agency could send similar robots to smaller airports in Alaska, which could be more cost effective than hiring human deterrent teams.

Aurora, which can be controlled from a table, computer or on an automated schedule, will always have a human handler with it, he said. It can navigate through rain or snow.

At a joint transportation committee meeting, Marlow said that he has been testing the robot in the water and so far he has had no issues.

During the meeting, he powered Aurora up and demonstrated its abilities to a rapt audience of Alaskan officials. 

'The balance and the capabilities of these systems is quite impressive,' he said. 

Using a remote control, Marlow made Aurora run in place at a high speed, then change directions nimbly. 

One man tried pushing the robot, but Aurora, being extremely well balanced, remained upright. 

'You can see it can show off pretty well,' Marlow said. 

The robot from Boston Dynamics cost about $70,000 and was paid for with a federal grant.