After Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston bombing case taken into custody last night, was discovered in a boat parked in a Watertown, Mass. backyard by its owner Friday, police enlisted the help of a robot to safely remove the tarp from the boat. While authorities did not specify exactly which robot was used to pull said tarp, Mashable has identified at least one robot that was on the scene.
In this photo, taken by an eyewitness near the house where Tsarnaev was hiding from police, a robot appears to be investigating a car authorities deemed suspicious. The car matches the description of a Honda which authorities were searching for Friday, but that alert was later canceled.
The robot in the photograph seems to match Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot’s PackBot, a multi-purpose defense and security robot available in several different configuraitons, including EOD (explosive ordinance disposal):
Charlie Vaida, a spokesperson for iRobot, told Mashable the PackBot was used “by local law enforcement early yesterday to inspect the suspects’ car,” but he is still working with authorities to confirm any additional involvement. When contacted by telephone, a spokesperson for the Boston Police Department told Mashable to instead direct the question to a BPD email address and await a response, which has not yet arrived.