Silicon Valley Got Weird Looking Robocops

Knightscope K5 Security Guard robots have been designed to register any activity that could be suspicious and alert the controllers. They are installed with surveillance sensors and camera, thermal imaging, odor detectors and scanners. During the patrolling duty, these robots make use of lasers and GPS to measure and calculate distances. The inventors foresee these robots patrolling malls, local neighborhoods and offices while believing that Knighscope can cut down crime by 50%.

The firm says, “Imagine a friend that can see, hear, feel and smell that would tirelessly watch over your corporate campus or neighborhood, keep your loved ones safe and put a smile on everyone passing by. Imagine if we could utilize technology to make our communities stronger and safer…..together.” The Security Guard robot is able to read about 300 car number plates per minute, which makes it  suitable for monitoring traffic.

Knightscape robots can avoid confrontation while being autonomous. If someone was to step in front of them, the robot will stop and go around them while providing a live video feed to the command center where a human is monitoring the video. The co-founder Stacy Stephens said, “The robot is looking at the video, listening for glass breakage, any loud sound that breaking in would cause. We’ll get the license plate, picture of the vehicle, geotag location, and time. It has a LIDAR (light image detection and ranging) that’s doing a 3D map. It will geofence itself and give itself a perimeter within which it will operate. And it moves around within that perimeter freely and it chooses its own path.”

If a passerby needs assistance, they can press a button located at the top of the robot’s head, which then responds to the person. Knightscope said, “I believe robots are the perfect tools to handle the monotonous and sometimes dangerous work in order to free up humans to more judiciously address activities requiring higher-level thinking, hands-on encounters or tactical planning.”