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Real-Life RoboCop Guards Shopping Centers In California (metro.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Metro: While machines from the likes of RoboCop and Chappie might just be the reserve of films for now, this new type of robot is already fighting crime. This particular example can be found guarding a shopping center in California but there are other machines in operation all over the state. Equipped with self-navigation, infra-red cameras and microphones that can detect breaking glass, the robots, designed by Knightscope, are intended to support security services. Stacy Dean Stephens, who came up with the idea, told The Guardian the problem that needed solving was one of intelligence. "And the only way to gain accurate intelligence is through eyes and ears," he said. "So, we started looking at different ways to deploy eyes and ears into situations like that." The robot costs about $7 an hour to rent and was inspired by the Sandy Hook school shooting after which it was claimed 12 lives could have been saved if officers arrived a minute earlier.
can it detect whether somebody is black or white, in order to find out whether to shoot them at sight?
The robots will get tired of poverty wages in about 6 months! Expect picketing, riots, and #RobotLivesMatter soon!
my snake disguise will 100% effective!
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
The robot costs about $7 an hour to rent and was inspired by the Sandy Hook school shooting after which it was claimed 12 lives could have been saved if officers arrived a minute earlier.
So does this mean that the police weren't notified as soon as the shooter was identified as a threat? That's the only way this claim has any bearing on additional monitoring whatsoever.
If you ever see one of these, run. There will likely be a blue police box nearby. You can take refuge inside. Don't worry, it's larger on the inside than on the outside.
Imagine all the people...
Most of what mall cops do is make people feel watched. It's the kind of work that's ripe for automation.
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Doesn't matter; you have ten seconds to comply.
Actually "twenty seconds to comply". Your geek card is hereby revoked...
This is a cool technology and it's serving a practical need.
But as soon as someone says "Real-Life RoboCop" and then backpedals to a kind of surveillance drone, none of the rest of it has any credibility.
Sounds more like the Killbots from Chopping Mall than Robocop.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
before one of these things are stolen?
"You have 20 seconds to comply."
Have gnu, will travel.
You have to reboot them every couple hours or they get stuck in the cinnabon or start macing children indiscriminately.
That looks like a promising way to deter car prowls in parking garages, and alert security if there is one in real time. Maybe similar in buildings with lots of windows, have a few of these robots patrol the corridors listening for the sound of glass breaking or doors opening where they shouldn't be.
I'm not sure I understand the connection to Sandy Hook, but I suppose inspiration isn't necessarily a deterministic process, so who's to say that's wrong.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocooki... and https://metrouk2.files.wordpre...
n/t
That's the best you could yo for a comparison?
Doesn't anyone else thing that this thing looks like what you'd get if you were to mate a Dalek with an iPod?
Imagine all the people...
NYC is a gun free city, and has the lowest crime of any medium to large metro area out there. Australia's gun killings are a fraction of what they were after the assault weapons were cleaned up. Venezuela's violence went down, even with hits horrific economic conditions because of the all-out gun ban. Even with their economy in shambles, without guns, violence is a lot harder to do.
Gun free zones do work. The proof is in the pudding. Would be nice for the US to not be the #1 murder capital of the world next to countries with failed states. Maybe if the entire US was a gun free zone, it would be as safe as Europe. (Oh, don't give me the ISIS stuff... lightning takes far more lives than the chance of even breathing air with a terrorist in action.)
I just realized something after I submitted the parent post. The idea of putting electronic eyes and ears on robots for security can be applied to robots used for other purposes. Slashdot has covered robots used as shopping guides before, just have a video and audio feed from these robots available to the security people at the site. It's a 2 for 1 deal.
Alternatively, put cameras and microphones on the store employees. This will no doubt meet resistance by employees if on all the time so give them the option to turn them on and off as they wish. Train the employees to turn them on if something happens or if they feel threatened. Build the function into the radios they almost always have any way to communicate throughout the site.
Arming the employees might not hurt either.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Chicago's a gun free zone as well. How's that working out?
As for Venezuela, if they had guns, maybe their government could've been stopped before it drove the country into the shambles it's in.
Gun free zones do not work. Oh, and Europe safe? Go read the news on Germans and Austrians making a mad rush for the gun stores to purchase protection from all the new violence the 'fugees are bringing in with them.
Americans know why they need weapons. Europeans are just starting to figure it out.
In Australia it's a lovely blue most of the time.
Guns are also heavily restricted here. Funnily enough, we don't have mass-shootings either.
Looks like Eve from Wall-E got jiggy(watt) with a Dalek.
Liar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Shooting a robot should be grounds for a murder charge?
Until someone actually develops a robot capable of autonomous thought and self-awareness that will continue to be the dumbest thing I've heard this year so far.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
The fact that their last occurance was 2014, and they can actually make a list going back to the 1600s of all mass murder incidents means he's not really lying....
This is more like ED-209 Robocop was a Cyborg meaning a human brain supported by mechanics and electronics...
Or a Terminator.
Or a Cyberman.
Or a Dalek.
Oh joy.
Where do these "suicidal murderers" come from? why only in US these are more prevalent than the rest of the world? Almost all these people were under severe psychotic drugs. Someone makes money off them (read big pharma, hospitals). So it's better to stop the loopholes which feed a normal mind with all kind of chemicals and turn that mind into a monster. Now with easy access to an automatic military grade weapon, he(/she?) becomes a mass murderer.
These extra 'eyes n ears' talk about big data and kinda AI/ML (machine learning) and have the ability to "predict". That is they claim anamoly detection. They even use the word "future"..predict future. So once the system senses a guy is a potential "mass murderer", it can alert the human backend (which in future may deploy a remote drone kind of attack on the person)
Came here to see if anyone made this correction already.
Was not disappointed.
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Where are the warnings on it you are being recorded? When was the last time you hugged a mall cop? This thing should have warnings on it you are being recorded up close and personal.
This wonderful bit of technology is one more step towards getting the next generation comfortable to being watched all the time.
And to tie it to Sandy Hook? Seriously? Just like the TSA, this is an improper response to a security problem in that context.
Couple this with the other news about the government not needing warrants for 'public' camera streams and we have a recipe for some real control of the populace.
We are sliding down that slippery slope at a good pace now. Ugh.
Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
Perhaps this is another example on how the artificial minimum wage is putting people out of work. If this robot costs $7/hr and the minimum wage is $15/hr then it would make sense for any property owner to have a handful of these robots and a single security guard in a room watching video screens.
What it also does is further separate people from people. People value human interaction, even if it's just having someone in a uniform smile and nod as they walk past. Companies that put a bunch of robots instead of people to provide security may find themselves driving off customers and not know why. The people that avoid shopping in places guarded by roaming robots might not even realize why they stopped shopping there.
I also dispute the security value they provide since they lack any ability to act on the information they gather. We've seen this already with stationary security cameras. People tried to save on labor costs and claim to provide the same level of security by having more cameras but the cameras never have the resolution of the human eye and the lack of the ability to act immediately provides an escape for thugs. There are numerous cases of security cameras capturing criminal behavior with the people knowing full well they are on camera. They don't care because they know the camera cannot act, the person behind the camera (assuming there is one) will not be able to get on scene in time to catch them as they flee.
I think they'd be better off finding some responsible young adults, give them a bit of training on how to notice bad behavior, write a report, etc. and give them the $7/hr instead of the robot. Judging by the unemployment rates of young adults it should not be difficult to find people willing to do this work. But in many places in the USA this is illegal. So instead we have inferior security robots, unemployed people, shopping centers with robots creeping people out, etc.
As a bonus to having people walking around to keep an eye on things they can actually do stuff that the robot cannot. They can pick up trash, greet people, give directions, etc. In short this robot is the solution to a problem we've created ourselves.
An artificial solution to an artificial problem.
This robot was supposedly inspired by a mass shooting but yet this robot is not armed, it can only alert the armed people to come to the aid of others. This might shorten the time that it takes to alert people but without a person doing the alerting there is no person there. I don't know what the going rate is for armed security but I'd think that is much more valuable than any $7/hr robot. The way things are going it may be possible to get some responsible armed guards for just $7/hr if it wasn't illegal to do so.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
This robot was supposedly inspired by a mass shooting but yet this robot is not armed, it can only alert the armed people to come to the aid of others
And guess what Adam Lanza's first bullet would have been directed at?