New York City Deploys 420-Pound RoboCop to Patrol Subway Station (gothamist.com) 82
"New York City is now turning to robots to help patrol the Times Square subway station," quipped one local newscast.
The non-profit New York City blog Gothamist describes the robot as "almost as tall as the mayor — but at least three-times as wide around the waist," with a maximum speed of 3 miles per hour-- but a 360-degree field of vision, equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio) to the police. A 420-pound, 5-foot-2-inch robocop with a giant camera for a face will begin patrolling the Times Square subway station overnight, the New York Police Department announced Friday morning. At a press conference held underground in the 42nd Street subway station, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city is launching a two-month pilot program to test the Knightscope K5 Autonomous Security Robot. During the press conference, the K5 robot — which is shaped like a small, white rocketship — stood silently along with uniformed officers and city officials in suits. Stripes of glowing blue lights indicated it was "on."
The K5 will act as a crime deterrent and provide real-time information on how to best deploy human officers to a safety incident, the mayor said. It features multiple cameras, a button that can connect the public with a real person, and a speaker for live audio communication... During the pilot program, the K5 will patrol the Times Squares subway station from midnight to 6 a.m. with a human NYPD handler that will help introduce it to the public. After two months, the mayor said the handler will no longer be necessary, and the robot will go on solo patrol...
Knightscope, which manufactures the robot, reports that it has been deployed to 30 clients in 10 states, including at malls and hospitals. The K5 has been in some sticky situations in other cities. One was toppled and slathered in barbecue sauce in San Francisco, while another was beaten by an intoxicated man in Mountain View, California, according to news reports. Another robot fell into a pool of water outside an office building in Washington, D.C.
When asked whether the robot was at risk of vandalism in New York City, the mayor strode over to it and gave it a few firm shoves. "Let's be clear, this is not a pushover. 420 pounds. This is New York tested," he said.
The city is leasing the robot for $9 an hour — And yes, local newscasts couldn't resist calling it a robocop. One shows the mayor announcing "We will continue to stay ahead of those who want to harm everyday New Yorkers."
Though the robot is equipped with facial recognition capability, it will not be activated.
The non-profit New York City blog Gothamist describes the robot as "almost as tall as the mayor — but at least three-times as wide around the waist," with a maximum speed of 3 miles per hour-- but a 360-degree field of vision, equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio) to the police. A 420-pound, 5-foot-2-inch robocop with a giant camera for a face will begin patrolling the Times Square subway station overnight, the New York Police Department announced Friday morning. At a press conference held underground in the 42nd Street subway station, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city is launching a two-month pilot program to test the Knightscope K5 Autonomous Security Robot. During the press conference, the K5 robot — which is shaped like a small, white rocketship — stood silently along with uniformed officers and city officials in suits. Stripes of glowing blue lights indicated it was "on."
The K5 will act as a crime deterrent and provide real-time information on how to best deploy human officers to a safety incident, the mayor said. It features multiple cameras, a button that can connect the public with a real person, and a speaker for live audio communication... During the pilot program, the K5 will patrol the Times Squares subway station from midnight to 6 a.m. with a human NYPD handler that will help introduce it to the public. After two months, the mayor said the handler will no longer be necessary, and the robot will go on solo patrol...
Knightscope, which manufactures the robot, reports that it has been deployed to 30 clients in 10 states, including at malls and hospitals. The K5 has been in some sticky situations in other cities. One was toppled and slathered in barbecue sauce in San Francisco, while another was beaten by an intoxicated man in Mountain View, California, according to news reports. Another robot fell into a pool of water outside an office building in Washington, D.C.
When asked whether the robot was at risk of vandalism in New York City, the mayor strode over to it and gave it a few firm shoves. "Let's be clear, this is not a pushover. 420 pounds. This is New York tested," he said.
The city is leasing the robot for $9 an hour — And yes, local newscasts couldn't resist calling it a robocop. One shows the mayor announcing "We will continue to stay ahead of those who want to harm everyday New Yorkers."
Though the robot is equipped with facial recognition capability, it will not be activated.
Re: (Score:1)
LOL rent free.
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Re: 6'3", 215 pounds (Score:2)
Duck.
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The first 420-pound subway thug it encounters is going to push it off a platform.
Re: 6'3", 215 pounds (Score:2)
It's a robot too, except this is from the rough part of town, and has jailhouse tats and piercings
mmmhmmm (Score:4, Funny)
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Don't give them an excuse to arm these things with lethal weapons.
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No need, they turn it on only once (Score:2)
They simply toggle on facial recognition only once, and the thug will be greeted with "Yo RudeBoy, wanna go back?" That will mean something; the robot's got a list of his priors
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It has to be more than 360 degree cameras, wheels, and batteries at that weight. US police have been getting second hard military hardware for a long time, this thing might already contain ballistic, incendiary, electric, audio, optical, chemical, and/or biological weapons for all we know. For all we know this came out of a crate labeled "military prototype, too dangerous to use!"
These aren't the features you're looking for... (Score:4)
"equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio)..."
"equipped with facial recognition capability, it will not be activated."
Anyone else get the feeling they're really trying to convince you certain features are not activated, while reality says something different?
Guess we'll (not really) find out when the next FISA court challenge comes along wanting to know about 'methods and sources'...
Re:These aren't the features you're looking for... (Score:4, Insightful)
"equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio)..."
"equipped with facial recognition capability, it will not be activated."
Anyone else get the feeling they're really trying to convince you certain features are not activated, while reality says something different?
Guess we'll (not really) find out when the next FISA court challenge comes along wanting to know about 'methods and sources'...
Sure, the robot can do facial recognition and that feature's disabled. But there's nothing saying that the captured footage won't be passed through facial recognition on some other hardware. Possibly in realtime.
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Sure, the robot can do facial recognition and that feature's disabled. But there's nothing saying that the captured footage won't be passed through facial recognition on some other hardware. Possibly in realtime.
In all fairness we should probably cite the source anytime we plagiarize the EULA like that. Just sayin'.
Re: These aren't the features you're looking for.. (Score:3)
How ling until masked persons shows up with paint and other sticky material?
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How ling until masked persons shows up with paint and other sticky material?
(Vendor) "Wait, you want a refund? Alread...oh, I see."
(Customer) "Technically, you don't. I'll take my refund now."
Re: These aren't the features you're looking for.. (Score:2)
"equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio)..."
I think they better enable the audio. Things can go wrong if he didn't hear it.
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"equipped with four cameras to send live video (without audio)..."
I think they better enable the audio. Things can go wrong if he didn't hear it.
"There it is...Heeey there lil buddy...watch out for those steps..."
*CRASH...SMASH...CRAS...[signal lost]
Like we really need to guess the final moments of audio capture based on a predictable public response...
Exterminate! (Score:5, Funny)
The Dalek invasion has begun!
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The Dalek invasion has begun!
Only if they give you a warning and then proceed to announce, "Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!".
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The Dalek invasion has begun!
Quick, to the stairs!
Re: Exterminate! (Score:2)
new york tested (Score:2)
Did NYC outlaw 320z and 64oz cups? (Score:3)
I now look at the to go cup ban in a different light. It was not an insane health based measure, it was disarming the public in preparation for these robots. Those evil geniuses tricked us into thinking there were mere idiots.
Re: Did NYC outlaw 320z and 64oz cups? (Score:2)
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Was the 128-oz or the 256-oz cup outlawed? I think not.
The robot is screwed
Re: Did NYC outlaw 320z and 64oz cups? (Score:2)
Forget about cups. Spray insulation foam is the way to mess up things with.
If it hasn't already been hacked ... (Score:1)
... it soon will be.
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... it soon will be.
*6 months from now*
"Oh wow..the facial recognition AND audio was turned on this whole time? Damn, we must have gotten hacked! Gosh, whatever will we do with all this recorded data..."
*walks into Parallel Construction Storage Depot #37*
In other news, Robocop "falls" onto tracks (Score:5, Funny)
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That will definitely happen.
it's like shit and flies.
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Diodes? (Score:3)
"Stripes of glowing blue lights indicated it was "on.""
Were these diodes on the left side by any chance?
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So, in other words ... (Score:5, Funny)
420-pound, 5-foot-2-inch ... maximum speed of 3 miles per hour
Let's see (Score:4, Funny)
'almost as tall as the mayor — but at least three-times as wide around the waist," with a maximum speed of 3 miles per hour'
So pretty much your standard New York cop, in other words.
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I'm unhappy I don't have mod points to give.
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Don't worry, you'll survive your modpoint starvation.
Dear god (Score:2)
Pls put down your weapon. You have 20 s to comply. (Score:2)
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In retrospect, running would've been smarter.
420 #s avoirdupois (Score:2)
I have to imagine this is to avoid the heavy tippers [youtube.com] associated with previous robotic employee deployment.
It can't go down the stairs... (Score:2)
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Like it did to grandma.
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Waste of time (Score:2)
These things will eventually be found pushed into the subway tracks and left to be junked.
But... (Score:2)
1. Serve the public trust
2. Protect the innocent
3. Uphold the law
4. Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown
It's a Security MONITOR (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
And what good is it? It can record muggings and people getting pushed onto the tracks.
Found a photo (Score:2)
I guess alligators in the sewers weren't enough (Score:2)
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Can't climb the stairs?
That's definitely ED-209!
Sure (Score:2)
>"Let's be clear, this is not a pushover. 420 pounds. This is New York tested,"
This sounds like a job for the junkies and hood rats of NYC.
Legion of Scum, assemble!
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These are something useful for patrolling some area where security is needed, but you have maybe 1-2 security guards, where one is at the desk, the other is patrolling. The Knightscope robots add another set of roving eyes, and good at catching license plates, so someone coming on site to do nefarious stuff, their vehicle will be logged via CCTV.
I don't see these ever being out of sight by NYPD officers, as it is too tempting a target. Even at 420 pounds, I'm sure there are many ways this can be vandalize
Re: Sure (Score:2)
Yeah, these things would be far too expensive to be simply let loose.
On turnstile jumpers, there is a good argument for taking it seriously. Ignoring small and highly visible crimes fosters a bad atmosphere, one where more serious behaviours follow. Besides, those caught doing this aren't typically pillars of the community, many already having criminal records.
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Why not something like a quadcopter? You'd have to figure out some way for it to navigate underground, but the brains could be in some kind of base station so you could throw some subtantial computing power at it.
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I'm no expert, but perhaps the air it displaces might be an issue in crowded tunnels, as well as people chucking stuff at the quadcopter in order to knock it out of the air. This definitely isn't something impossible, as one can define flight paths for the drone, even if a subway is passing by, and one could find a way to have it use a charging station based from the third rail and a ground so if it gets to a low water mark with the battery, it can land and charge until it hits a high water mark and is abl
Will they be able to read Hues? (Score:2)
Look like crowd control drones in Psycho Pass (anime). Face-recognition was least of the worries -- would read you latent-attitude for criminal
tendencies...
I guess the mayor hasn't walked a beat for a while (Score:2)
"When asked whether the robot was at risk of vandalism in New York City, the mayor strode over to it and gave it a few firm shoves. 'Let's be clear, this is not a pushover. 420 pounds'."
A 90 pound New York crack whore could pick the frickin' thing up and run off with it.
It is my great pleasure to introduce you to: (Score:2)
ED-209
K5 + 4 (Score:1)
> "K5 robot - which is shaped like a small, white rocketship"
I expect the 4th version from now to have canine shape. Better Boy!
sure. (Score:1)
Already across most of the United States today, even if you have a picture - hell, even the ID - of the person who stole your car, police are uninterested in pursuing that individual.
If they do arrest him, he'll almost certainly be released immediately with some insistence ha show up for a court date, which he will ignore as he has the previous dozen times.
God forbid you try to confront or restrain him yourself, almost guaranteeing you will do jail time and have your life ruined by civil suits while the loc
The military tried this already (Score:4, Funny)
They figured out that covering yourself with a cardboard box completely fucked the image recognition systems all to hell. I have a feeling that a Refrigerator Box would cover robocop perfectly.
Didnt Microsoft Try These (Score:1)
But can it display ads? (Score:2)
I don't know about NYC.. (Score:2)
Remember Hitchbot? (Score:1)
Police (Score:1)