When you need the police, you still have to call 911

As a fight erupted in the parking lot of Salt Lake Park in
California, an onlooker quickly ran to a RoboCop^[1]
that was patrolling the area and pressed the emergency alert
button.

When the police robot merely asked the woman to ‘step out of the way^[2]‘, she started to
question what its purpose for being in the park was. 

As our world becomes more and more automated, with robotics^[3]
taking over many human roles and offering assistance, we have to
wonder just how useful some of these inventions truly
are. 

RELATED: HONG KONG RIOT POLICE
REPORTEDLY BUY ‘ROBOCOP-STYLE’ BODY ARMOUR FROM
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When you need the police, you still have to call 911

As the woman trying to help, Cogo Guebara^[5], realized that pressing
the emergency button on the RoboCop was not going to call for
backup, she tried another method. 

Guebara then crouched down to the robot’s^[6]
camera lens height, thinking it needed a visual in order to assist
her. 

That was not the case. The RoboCop kept spouting out ‘get out of
the way’. 

Given the police robot had the actual word ‘Police^[7]‘ written in large
letters on its front and back, it was quite a natural reaction to
assume it may, in fact, offer help, just like the police
would. 

However, these HP RoboCops, built and leased by Knightscope^[8], are not yet linked up
to police departments. Currently, their emergency button calls
Knightscope, who then has to call the police. A bit of a long-ended
mission when you’re in need of responsive and immediate
assistance. 

Cosme Lozano, chief of police at
Hungtington Park said, “That’s why we’re not advertising
those features. It’s a new program for us and we’re still
developing some protocols… to be able to fully adopt the
program.”^[9]

One of Knightscope’s RoboCops. Source: Knightscope^[10]

So, what is the purpose of these robots?

At the moment, Knightscope has developed and launched
70 of these RoboCops across the U.S. They are
autonomous security robots that combine self-driving technology,
robotics, and artificial intelligence. They’re meant to be
‘crime-fighting autonomous data machines’.

They’ve been deployed in a number of different U.S.
locations, from gas stations to airports. That said, they’re still
on a trial basis according to Lozano, as they’re not yet fully
linked to the police force. 

What can RoboCops do that is actually useful? They have a
360 degree high-definition live video stream, they
can read license plates at a rate of 1,200 plates per
minute, they have a two-way intercom (although we noticed
that it didn’t work very well during this recent park fiasco), as
well as the ability to track mobile phone use in the
vicinity. 

They’re glorified 24/7 moving CCTV cameras. Which may be pretty
useful when sending information directly to the police
force. 

However, for the time being, a fair bit of work still needs to
be done if the RoboCops are to become useful to people in need of
police assistance. This was clearly demonstrated when Rudy
Espericuta, with Guebara at the scene, had to dial 911.