Robot dogs are being considered by U.S. officials as the newest addition to border control if they are capable of passing the proper testing.

Border control officers who patrol areas in the Southwest region of the U.S. deal with harsh conditions like “extreme temperatures and other non-environmental threats.” This has led officials to want to test out “robot dogs” to help assist them with their job.

“Just like anywhere else, you have your standard criminal behavior, but along the border, you can also have human smuggling, drug smuggling, as well as smuggling of other contraband—including firearms or even potentially, WMD,” explained Agent Brett Becker of the CBP Innovation Team (INVNT), in a release on Tuesday.

“These activities can be conducted by anyone from just a lone individual, all the way up to transnational criminal organizations, terrorists or hostile governments—and everything in between.”

The Science and Technology Directorate which serves as the research and development arm of the Department of Homeland Security offered to bring in the additional help.

“The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there,” said S&T program manager, Brenda Long, in the release.

“This S&T-led initiative focuses on Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, or what we call ‘AGSVs.’ Essentially, the AGSV program is all about…robot dogs,” she added.

A partnership with Ghost Robotics, a developer of Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, or AGSVs, led to the development of a 100-pound battery-operated robot dog. The robot dog is capable of navigating “all types of natural terrain including sand, rocks, and hills, as well as human-built environments, like stairs. That’s why you want legs, and not tracks,” the release said.

The robot dogs passed all necessary tests when they were recently taken to Lorton to be tested in “realistic scenarios.”

Now the robot dogs are being tested in the El Paso desert to see if they can “maneuver in harsh environments, operate in tight spaces and be unphased by high heat, as well as low oxygen conditions—situations that are especially dangerous for CBP agents and officers,” the release said.