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Robots To Patrol South Korean Prisons
bukharin writes "As reported by various sites, South Korea is planning a trial of robotic prison guards in Pohang. The idea is that the robots will roll around the prison monitoring conditions inside the cells and communicate back to human guards if they detect a problem such as violence. Apparently the human guards are happy with the idea because they get to do less, especially overnight. And if you were worried about Skynet, you needn't be: according to Prof. Lee Baik-chul of Kyonggi University, who's running the trial, '... the robots are not terminators. Their job is not cracking down on violent prisoners. They are helpers.' Good to know."
thank god for asian robots. they are polite before the kill.
Terminator hardware and designs are evolving in the US and Israel, with handy trial areas in Iraq, Afganistan and Israel's neighborhood.
Why not just put up cameras everywhere?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Why is it that the east just seems to be so far ahead of the west with this sort of stuff? I mean, we just seem so reluctant to adopt cool new tech. This stuff is the future, but (in the UK at least) we just seem to be getting left behind!
If robots are able to make it way cheaper to house a prisoner then politicians will have little to restrain them from passing more laws that can send you to prison. It is very hard for a politician to make much headway reducing penalties but it is a no-brainer for them to be "tough on crime".
TOS violation 10 years.
Download music 10 years
Take a picture of a cop 10 years
Insult a politician 10 years
Parking violation not paid on time 90 days.
Kid misses a day in school 90 days
Insult your neigbour 10 years
Not feed your cat on time 10 years
You think that some special interest group wouldn't push for the above stupid penalties?
Then use them for parts to escape after hatching a plan based on their incredibly predictable location.
Actual note in robot developers notebook: Must remember to cover the switches on their backs with tape so that no one can accidently flick it to "EVIL" setting.
How happy will they be when someone realizes they aren't needed anymore?
Haven't read much of this book yet, but it appears to be relevant. And it is a free download.
http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/
What is penalty if slashdot troll links to goatse?
not only that prisons don't have the room to house that many in mates anyways and guards are only part of the costs and the robots have a lot they can't do.
Spent two years working with prisons of every kind early in my tech career, I've probably worked with a third of the prisons federal and state for both the US and Canada. These are not environments where privacy is a good thing.
This is a very good thing for prisoners because a robot can't be bribed, threatened or tricked the same way a human can. Prison is a very ugly thing, violence, extortion and rape are very real threats that can happen daily. It also reduces the risk for the officers that are greatly outnumbered. Frankly it would be best for these robots to do well and become another export, we could certainly use them over here.
We're not likely to ever get there. Mostly because that would have other problems that are much more serious to worry about. As long as robots have to be told what to do and how to react things are fine. The problem is that in order to replace the guards they would have to make the things autonomous and that's potentially very worrying. You'd have to be really certain that the AI had been program correctly otherwise there's all sorts of hell to break loose.
I'm not seeing why you would need the same number of guards you had patrolling the halls when robots are patrolling the halls instead. Some of the guards will still be needed, but not nearly as many as were needed before.
Will the robots be paid a fair wage? Robots are not our slaves.
less guards = easyer to riot and can they look for hidden weapons prisoners are very good at makeing them out of just about any thing and they hide them in hard to find spots.
prisons will find a way to slow down or gum up the works on the robots and likely it will be some low tech way of doing it.
Make the prisoners robotic instead, and employ people to watch them. This will not only be good for the economy, it will get all the innocent people out of jail.
The guards that aren't single-minded sociopaths looking for power will likely get out while they can. Most thugs aren't smart enough to think that far into the future, or will stick with it so that they can kick back and still beat the shit out of people when they feel like it.
ok, I understand that the police officers are lazy, and that the robots will alert the officers if there is a problem but think of the effects of this. If a inmate gets stabbed by another inmate and is bleeding profusely the robot has to alert the police officer and the officer needs to put down his donut and come down to that location ASAP. In a critical situation such as this time is of the essence and a few seconds, never-mind minutes, can be the difference between life and death. Using robot patrols allows the inmates to do more damage before the officer arrives and they are restrained
Out comes the shiv... ED 209 springs into action:
"Please put down your weapon! You have twenty seconds to comply!"
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
How about leaving gum on the floor to get caught in the robot's wheels/treads while they're doing their rounds?
... are EMP grenades
Send your spendthrift head of state this
Oh, like THX1138?
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Because you don't staff guards like that. Keep in mind that this is a prison which means that you have to have sufficient guards to deal with whatever happens. Waiting for outside help is generally not reasonable except under extraordinary circumstances. You might be able to get by with fewer guards on rove, but you're not going to be able to cut any as you still have to have them there for when the robots break or when something starts.
In the US where we have more concern for money than human life it might work out like that, but anybody with knowledge of staffing in the industry isn't going to fall for that.
lol, worst troll ever.
Wouldn't it be easier to just have individual cells, so the only violence possible at night is self inflicted? Give them smaller, individual cells. Boom.
with gun and camera options. Oh, and it's large--the dustbin hold is spacious enough to hold a corpse.
if only it had wheels and oversees many gang members I would be one step closer
For those who are interested, there is a kind of prison architecture that allows the prisoners to think that they are being watched all the time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
Lo and behold, for I am a sig!
That's why we keep labor unions around long after they defeated all genuine abuse.
If the robots behave badly, do they make robot prisoners too? :0)
The purpose of existence is to make money.
anybody with knowledge of staffing in the industry isn't going to fall for that.
If it's a political decision the only thing that may prevent reducing staff is lost votes, if it is a business decision it is made by a person that may not be in that position when hell break loose and in the mean time have left for another job with a ton of money in is pocket for reducing costs.
Real decisions are not done by someone with knowledge and in this times when there is money involved...
welcome our new robotic prison guards.
The first law of robotics will prevent the robots from reporting the attacker, because the punishment will be getting tossed into solitary; solitary will bring harm (psychological at the least) upon him. Therefore, when a robot sees a conflict, the paradox of having to harm one human or not acting and having another human be harmed as a result of its inaction will make it explode. They should have consulted a qualified robopsychologist before undertaking this project.
"Their job is not cracking down on violent prisoners. They are helpers." Until they become self-aware and start plotting against the incompetent guards, the whole prison system, the governor, the president... mankind!!!!
Rather than build robots to guard prisons, why not just get the robots to do the boring work outside instead of imprisoning people for not wanting to do the work (and stealing, selling drugs, etc. for money)?
http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
We need "A Newer Way Of Thinking":
http://anwot.org/
Where this may all be leading, Marshall Brain's "Manna":
http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Why not just have a "basic income" instead, funded by a tax on robotic factories?
http://www.basicincome.org/bien/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14bAe6AzhA
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
So what did it DO and does it get a jury of it's peers or at least a 50/50 human/robot mix?
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Beware geeks bearing gifts.