Maybe not as dangerous as a real life Robocop, but probably just as weird, Knightscope has developed a K5 security robot that is already on the patrol in San Francisco. Granted, it’s just to read license plates around a gas station, but it could spell uncertainty for the future of security and technology in our world. This egg-shaped automaton has four cameras that are pointed every 90 degrees around its body and can read up to 300 license plates per minute.
If K5 isn’t your bread and butter, you can also meet Buddy and Rudy, who are robot security guards at the Pechanga casino in California. This dynamically coded duo uses thermal imaging, audio/video recording and sensory detection in order to navigate crowds to keep an eye on any crime going on. Better than stationary cameras – these two androids might not have crime-fighting capabilities, but they have received an overwhelmingly positive reception from casino-goers.
Lastly, let’s switch over to some robots that actually might scare the public into better behavior. Meet Nimbo, a segway-like patrol robot that uses artificial intelligence to identify people “up to no good” so it can chase them down with a loud warning message. The robot also has the capability to call in drone support to keep an eye on the criminal, but its land version only travels 11 miles per hour.
So what’s the verdict on robot security? While Pechanga promises the robots won’t be stealing any security officer jobs, it’s borderline creepy to know that technology has come to the point where we now have hunks of metal watching and analyzing our every move… all by themselves. Certainly a threat to privacy, this is where the true debate between convenience and creepiness is sure to arise. At what point will society officially say “technology has come too far?”
