Philadelphia Police are investigating vandalism at the home of a Ghost Robotics exec and the company’s Penn HQ

The Philadelphia home of a tech executive was graffitied with the word “murderer,” and police have opened an investigation. 

Philadelphia police on Monday responded to a vandalism incident at the home of a leader at Ghost Robotics, the $400 million hardware firm in the process of being acquired by a South Korean defense manufacturer. 

Ghost is best known for its “robot dogs,” also called unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Like many in advanced robotics, the company has sold the tech to government militaries. That caught the attention of local activists this spring after reports the bots were being deployed in Gaza by the Israel Defense Force.

The rowhome vandalism is the latest, and the closest to home, of a series of demonstrations and protests targeting the startup, a spinout of Penn’s celebrated GRASP Lab.

An unknown suspect or suspects painted words including “murderer” on two doors at the Philadelphia property, according to a police report. Technical.ly has verified the location of the vandalism but withholds the details of home addresses for privacy. Photos obtained by Technical.ly also show bursts of red paint splattered on the rowhome’s facade. As of Thursday afternoon, no arrests had been made. 

On Tuesday, one day after the rowhome incident, University of Pennsylvania Police responded to a separate vandalism incident at Pennovation Works in Grays Ferry, where Ghost Robotics and several other startups are based. 

Several glass panels and windows were shattered, according to Penn’s Division of Public Safety, but no trespassers remained on site.

Pennovation Works hasn’t released evidence that the vandalism is related to Ghost’s presence, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, which first reported on that incident.

Penn Police are closely monitoring the center and providing “additional security checks,” per Ron Ozio, Penn’s director of media relations, adding that an “enhanced security presence” would be on site at the center as needed. 

Pennovation and Ghost Robotics did not immediately provide comment.

The business of defense tech 

Ghost Robotics cofounders Gavin Kenneally, Avik De and the late Jiren Parikh launched the startup in 2015, while studying at Penn. 

A robot dog model called Ghost Minitaur made a splash in 2018, appearing on The Daily Show. One of the latest editions is the Vision 60, which has been tested by the US Marines and other parts of the Dept. of Defense.

The Philly-based startup does not make any weapons itself, but like other advanced manufacturing companies — even including fellow robot dog maker Boston Dynamics, which promotes a stance against weaponization — Ghost does ink contracts with militaries. Industry experts sometimes make comparisons to drones, the “unmanned aerial vehicles” that were largely developed with military contracts before widening to more benign uses like aerial photography and toys.

Ghost’s clients include the Dept. of Homeland Security, Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and the one that played the biggest role in sparking recent controversy: the Israel Defense Force. 

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in March that the IDF was “experimenting” with the use of robot dogs in the Gaza Strip. It’s not confirmed whether the tech has been used in weapons, but its reported presence in the Israel-Hamas war led to the formation of activist group Shut Down Ghost Robotics, an online petition and local protests — including at the end of Technical.ly’s annual conference in May, where a Ghost robot was on display.

Korean company LIG Nex 1, which builds missiles and is expected to report a big jump in revenue and profit this quarter, filed last December to acquire a 60% stake in Ghost Robotics for $240 million. LIG Nex 1’s stock price has increased significantly since the acquisition news broke.