Tulsa County Deputies Deploy Robotic Dog At State Fair

Tulsa County deputies are using a robotic dog at the Tulsa State Fair as an added layer of security. The “dog” can find explosives, weapons and hazardous materials and relay information to law enforcement in seconds.

Despite all the food stands and flashing rides, it is the four-legged creature that is stealing the show at the fair.

“I thought it was really cool,” said a fairgoer. “It freaked me out. I was like what is that?”

The drone dog is patrolling the fairgrounds and can be controlled from a small screen.

“You can connect it to an Xbox controller,” said Thad Debolt, founder of the company that created the drone dog. “You can run it off of a tablet. It all runs off of 4G LTE.”

The dog can sense explosives, hazmat situations and if someone has a weapon. Information is quickly relayed to first responders.

“With the camera systems that are on there, you get actual great evidence of what took place instead of having to rely on somebody,” said Debolt.

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado says the agency is always looking for new ways to keep everyone safe.

“Its capabilities are limitless and moving into the future,” he said. “These are things that are going to enhance the safety of our citizens.”

The sheriff’s office hopes to get one of the “dogs” to use full time. Regalado says it could be used for other big events and even for screening people at the county courthouse.

“We’re always getting strange backpacks left behind and things like that,” he said. “We wouldn’t have to utilize deputies to go check those bags, we could utilize this dog.”