About 300 employees of Boston Dynamics, a robot developer under Hyundai Motor Group, filed a petition urging management to stop a contract to sell robot dogs to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Ars Technica reported on Oct. 26.

Management decided to keep the contract.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security signed a $1.3 million contract with Connecticut-based Radeko on Sept. 25, the report said. Under the deal, Radeko will modify four Boston Dynamics robot dogs, Spot, and supply them to ICE.

The modified robot, Cerberus, detects radiation, toxic gas leaks and explosive threats. The contract says ICE is bringing in the robot dogs to crack down on illegal cross-border tunnels and dismantle human trafficking organizations.

Boston Dynamics employees, in early September, sent management a petition signed by more than 300 people. Half of the signatories are anonymous. Boston Dynamics has about 1,400 employees in total. Employees who joined the petition argued that the risks Boston Dynamics would have to bear were too great to continue the contract.

The petition, dated Sept. 4, 2025, also pointed to an incident in September 2025 in which ICE raided a Hyundai Motor Group plant in Georgia.

ICE and Homeland Security Investigations detained 475 workers at the time, most of them South Koreans. Hyundai Motor Group acquired Boston Dynamics in June 2021. Employees said they could not be proud of a government agency using their technology when it treated even Hyundai colleagues harshly.

Amanda McMaster, former interim CEO of Boston Dynamics, emailed employees urging them to respect and accept the decision even if they did not agree, saying it was in line with the company's mission.