Slashdot Mirror
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?
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/
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.
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.
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.
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.