Enlarge / NYC Mayor Eric Adams holds a press conference with members of the NYPD and Boston Dynamics' Spot. (credit: Michael Appleton/Office of the Mayor of New York City)
The New York Police Department is bringing back the idea of policing the city with robots. The department experimented with Boston Dynamics' Spot in 2021 and shut the project down after a public outcry from civil-liberties groups. The idea is being brought back by NYC's new mayor, Eric Adams, who was elected in 2022 and described himself multiple times during the announcement as a "computer geek." Adams is a former NYPD captain and ran on a platform of reducing crime.
Most police departments already have an arsenal of robots, but they are usually for bomb disposal, not the day-to-day patrolling work that New York City is envisioning. Bomb disposal robots are usually just fancy RC cars—totally 'dumb' remote-control devices that have no automation at all and required one or several people to operate. NYC wants semi-autonomous robots patrolling the streets. Adams says, "If we were not willing to move forward and use technology on how to properly keep cities safe, then you will not keep up with those doing harmful things."
For active patrol work, the NYPD plans to deploy one Knightscope K5 robot. This is a 400-lb, 5-foot-tall wheeled robot that looks like a real-life giant R2D2. The egg-shaped robot has no appendages and is mostly just a ball of sensors. It has a 360-degree camera system, a thermal camera, LiDAR, sonar, GPS, 16 microphones, and speakers to playback pre-recorded or live messages. It can autonomously patrol an area, detect people, and recognize license plates and has facial recognition, though the NYPD claims facial recognition will not be used. As a wheeled robot, it can only access ADA-compliant areas via ramps.
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