Authorities in Beijing have recently been testing the use of robot police to help them with the task of controlling the crowds.
The robots that they are using have been outfitted with extendable electroshock arms and facial recognition software. They even have a special badge that's displayed on the front; meant to signify their authority.
The robots can speak through a loud speaker and offer directions and commands to guests, helping them to continue through security inspections in an orderly fashion.
It can also offers commands like asking for your identification, or it can try to deescalate a problem by asking you not to push or shove someone.
This week during holiday celebrations, the robots have been tasked with guiding tourists to cooperate with security inspections. And it isn't clear whether or not authorities will maintain the use of them further than this week; they've been testing the use of them during the Golden Week national holiday.
As well, the robot that they are using this week, has previously been unveiled and deployed as a security officer at airport locations in the country. It must have performed its duties well enough for them to extend the use now to other tasks and jurisdictions.
Police have said that they will be using them as an additional tool, to help them to offset some of the pressure of perhaps rather seemingly mundane tasks of queuing lines etc. By delegating that responsibility to the robots, they can take up more important tasks to focus on.
This isn't the first country to experiment with using robot police officers. Dubai recently announced their own use of robot police as well. Their police officer is alleged to have already officially gone on duty and has been tasked with patrolling tourist attractions and malls.
Though authorities in China might only see the robot as an additional tool now, other governments have made it clear that they intend to dramatically ramp-up their use of them in the years to come. Dubai has already made their goal clear of aiming for at least a 25 percent robotic police force by 2030.
However, they too have said though that they don't intend to entirely replace their police force with the robots, but that they hope these robot officers can free up their police for more serious tasks than things like patrolling malls or helping people to move through a line-up.
Aside from governments and their police authorities looking to use robot security officers, private companies have also started using them to patrol their property. Limited numbers of the robot patrolling devices have already taken to the streets in the US.
But it hasn't all been smooth sailing. The robots have already had their fair share of mishaps. One of the robot security officers has already been accused of allegedly running over a 16mo old child at a mall, one fell down some stairs and drowned, and another somehow got involved in an altercation with a drunk 41 year old man in a parking area, which ended with the robot (which is said to weigh around 300 lbs) being knocked down.
It might not be very long before you start to see these or similar security robots not only at holiday festivals and train stations or airports, but also at malls, office buildings, schools, and other populated areas.
Pics:
instey.com/tag/chinadaily
Asia Wire Via Daily Mail
Dubai Media Office via BBC
via techworm.net/2016/01/crime-fighting-robots-now-patrolling-streets-california.html
Sources:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/robocops-been-deployed-busy-city-11317952
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4966604/Robotic-POLICE-hit-streets-Beijing.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40026940
http://www.bjreview.com/Nation/201609/t20160922_800068029.html
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293425
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-dc-knightscape-k5-robot-falls-into-fountain/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/18/robot-cop-found-face-down-office-block-fountain
http://abc7news.com/technology/police-drunk-man-knocked-down-300-pound-robot-in-mountain-view/1915713/
https://steemit.com/technology/@doitvoluntarily/the-world-s-very-first-operational-robot-police-officer
NO THANKS!
Part R2D2, part Dalek. Just what we need. "Exterminate!"
R2-D2 playing Robocop :D
lol!
I don't know if I'm more scare or more curious about the robot police, but thinking about the extendable electroshock arms and facial recognition software that they have, I 'm feeling absolutely scare by them.
Holy crap! Welcome to the future, but this is still very creepy, I think..
Mmh looks like a cute Star-Wars Droid;)
That was a very interesting read which I'm going to show my husband when he gets home thanks for the information!
This is creepy in so many ways. We will have to learn to deal with robots who have no empathy for us. I haven't thought about this possibility at all until now...
Its just so creepy and worrisome is my first impression 😟
omg
The way cops this days are behaving, they shoudn't notice any difference at all LOL Cop human or robot it's the same if they are programmed with commands to follow
I'm wondering what happens when the AI singularity occurs which will happen when code is able to write itself.
I could not help noticing the fact that this is happening in the most populous country in the world. I suppose we can accept that the days are gone when robots were supposed to work in areas where humans did not want to work, or in fields where manpower was scarce. Now, we are going to use robots just because they are cheaper and probably more efficient. Having said that, I am not against robots at all, but I do worry about some aspects of it.
My goodness I didn't think the first real Robocop would look like this but in essence it's here !!😂
That's what it would look like if R2D2 and Robocop had babies... And now we know.
Sho, I always wonder if fiction feeds science; or if science feeds fiction?
Everybody needs there own robot
I hope not, think technology has gone to far then.
Welcome to the future!
This is just the beginning, robots are going to take over a lot of things in the future and I'm not even sure if it can be seen as a good reason
Bit funny. The first one is like an upsize R2😎
Dehumanising law enforcement only makes the lawmakers more powerful.
I am not against armed robots as long as I have the freedom to buy some for myself.
At some point, I feel I would need a small troop of K-Trons as seen in Luc Besson's film: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
What a nightmare... humans get controlled by police robots.
They look vague like daleks. Do they exterminate, yet? EXTERMINATE!
Nice story
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