A group of police officers patrolling a stadium with three dogs on a World Cup matchday wouldn’t usually raise eyebrows. But when those three dogs are high-tech robots equipped with video cameras that can sustain speeds of 20kmph, you can understand the fuss.That was the case at Estadio BBVA before the stadium’s fourth and final World Cup game, as The Athletic joined three policemen controlling the K9-X robots in the build-up to the round-of-32 tie between the Netherlands and Morocco.Made in China, the robot dogs were introduced by the Guadalupe police department — the city next to Monterrey, Mexico, where Estadio BBVA is located — in February. Four models were brought in at a reported cost of $145,000 (then £107,000) to help prevent crimes and monitor dangerous situations, as well as aiding with crowd control.Why are there robo-dogs at the World Cup?Tomás Hill López-Menchero and moreGuadalupe’s secretary of public security Alfredo Fabela Pacheco says the project was launched with much more than just the World Cup in mind, but the dogs took centre stage as Monterrey hosted its four games at the tournament.The K9-Xs are made of aluminium and high-strength plastic. They have facial recognition and behavioural analysis systems installed, which means they detect when a group of people become agitated and send video to the police force’s centre for command, control, communication and computers.Pacheco and his team can then assess whether a fight is taking place or if the robot dog has simply detected a group of fans celebrating a win.Robodogs patrolling the Estadio BBVA near Monterrey (Tomás Hill López-Menchero/The Athletic)“A lot of the time it helps us prevent a situation of conflict that could arise, and even more so with these massive events,” Pacheco tells The Athletic. “So the dogs are very useful for these situations and so that we can adapt them for day-to-day situations.”There is a more serious reason why they were introduced. Last year, two Guadalupe police officers were killed in the line of duty after entering a house where criminals opened fire. The robot dogs allow police to analyse potentially dangerous situations where suspects could be carrying a weapon by sending in the K9-X with its cameras first (it also has night vision). The officers can broadcast a message to the suspect telling them to drop their arms using the robot’s voice command system, before then going in themselves.