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New York City's infamous "robocop" has officially ended its pilot program, according to an official from the city. The machine lasted only four months and costed $12,250. The 5-foot-tall 400lb security robot, K5, was introduced in October of last year to much fanfare from Mayor Eric Adams' office, however, the public was not as impressed and it was stashed away in a vacant storefront just two months into the city's six-month contract with its manufacturer, Knightscope. "The K5 Knightscope has completed its pilot in the NYC subway system," a spokesperson for the New York Police Department said in a statement...

Supervisors in San Francisco voted Tuesday to give city police the ability to use potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations — following an emotionally charged debate that reflected divisions on the politically liberal board over support for law enforcement. The vote was 8-3, with the majority agreeing to grant police the option despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization of a police force already too aggressive with poor and minority communities. Supervisor Connie Chan, a member of the committee that forwarded the proposal to the...

San Francisco police have come up with a new policy allowing them to kill suspects using robots – a first for the city and a potential milestone in law enforcement’s deepening relationship with machines. The policy, part of a broader set of rules around use of law enforcement equipment, is set to go before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Nov. 29, Mission Local reported. Robots under the policy would “only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force...

DALLAS — Yes, those 7-foot-tall machines at Dallas Love Field are watching you. They want to make sure you’re wearing a mask if you’re boarding a flight or not parking too long at the curb if you’re picking up a returning traveler. Love Field is testing out two Security Control Observation Towers at the airport, one near baggage claim and another near security checkpoints, to figure out whether robotic assistants can both help customers get around and warn passengers who are breaking rules. The robots can also contact airport security and operations in case more help is needed. While not...

Ghost Robotics and SWORD International have teamed up to create a rifle-toting "robot dog." Called the Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle, or SPUR, the system adds a 6.5mm Creedmoor rifle from SWORD to one of Ghost Robotics' quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles, or Q-UGVs. The SPUR made its debut on the show floor at the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) main annual convention in Washington, D.C., which opened yesterday. Though Ghost Robotics is partnered with a number of other companies to explore defense and security applications, among others, for its Q-UGVs — which you can read more about in this past...

Those Knightscope security robots may not be so great at their jobs. When a woman in a park near Los Angeles saw people fighting and tried to summon help via a police robot patrolling nearby, the robot merely told her to "step out of the way" and continued along its pre-determined route, according to NBC News. No help came until the spectators called 911 directly, raising the question of what, if any, function these robots are actually supposed to serve. It turns out that the robot, a K5 model named "HP RoboCop", patrols the park on behalf of the police...

Almost 30 years after “RoboCop” was released to theaters its modern incarnation has finally arrived.Huntington Park, a small city near Los Angeles in California, recently debuted its “HP RoboCop” (yes, they actually called it that) as a “deterrent to crime and disruptive activity.” Though seemingly innocuous, wrongdoers beware - while it is unclear the full array of functions the machine has it seems primarily geared towards having a 360-degree video mobile monitoring ability.While it seems the “RoboCop” is more a cute public relations effort than a truly transformational force or piece of equipment on its own, it is worth noting...

The Huntington Park Police Department is set to unveil "HP RoboCop," the latest tool in the force's arsenal that will keep an electronic eye on public areas, the city of Huntington Park announced in a news release. The device is "an autonomous data machine that is meant to serve outdoors," that will use 360-degree HD video footage to "act as an extra set of eyes and monitor areas such as parks, city buildings and corridors where police might not have the time to consistently patrol," the release said. The city released a video of HP RoboCop rolling down a sidewalk,...

Robots are set to make up a quarter of Dubai's police by 2030 - and Robocop is the first The "world's first operational Robocop" has been unveiled in Dubai as part of the emirate's planned robot police force. Robocop started work on Sunday and is already making a name for itself. At 5ft 5in tall and weighing 100kg, it can speak six languages and is designed to read facial expressions. It had an easy start to working life, being unveiled at the three-day long Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference. But when the Expo draws to a close tomorrow, it...

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives Purchasing Mini Caliber Robot 10--Mini-Caliber Robot Solicitation Number: DJA-15-ANCE-PR-1110 Agency: Department of Justice Office: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Location: Administrative Programs Division (APD) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.The solicitation number is DJA-15-ANCE-PR-1110 and is issued as an invitation for bids (IFB), unless otherwise indicated herein.The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-84. The associated North American Industrial Classification System...

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” ― Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means If 2014 was the year of militarized police, armored tanks, and stop-and-frisk searches, 2015 may well be the year of technologized police, surveillance blimps and scan-and-frisk searches. Just as we witnessed neighborhood cops being transformed into soldier cops, we’re about to see them shapeshift once again, this time into robocops, complete with robotic exoskeletons, super-vision contact lenses, computer-linked visors, and mind-reading helmets. Similarly, just as military equipment created for the battlefield has been deployed on American soil against American citizens,...

New Delhi: Jose Padilha is making his Hollywood debut with 'RoboCop', a remake of the 1987 film of the same name, and says his approach to the sci-fi film is similar to the happenings in the world today. A re-telling of the Paul Verhoeven-directed 1987 movie, the film is about a Detroit police officer who is transformed into a sentient law enforcement machine. "I think that the issues our movie talks about - the robots, the use of drones, our law enforcement all of these are real issues and very close to reality today. And they are going to become...

Will TSA agents be replaced by machines? One of the main reasons that Americans hate to fly is the Transporation Security Administration (TSA). Not only is it annoying to have to strip down at security checkpoints, submit to the occasional patdown and stand in long lines to verify our identities, but the entire system is inefficient. So what happens if we take humans off of those jobs and use machines instead? Several European airports are looking to answer that question by installing eye and face scanners, along with fingerprint readers, at security checkpoints. Many airports’ immigration checks have used these...

A Silicon Valley startup is poised to replace the everyday security guard with high tech robots the company plans to introduce to the world on Thursday. The 300 pound R5 Autonomous Data Machine looks like a hybrid of R2-D2 and the robot from Lost in Space. More than just yelling ‘danger,’ manufacturer Knightscope hopes the machines will actually help predict crimes and even cut current rates in half. And its inventors say it was a recent school shooting that actually inspired them to create the R5....

Crowdfunding has worked for films, political candidates, disaster relief and now real estate. Crowdfunding, the act of soliciting funds from the public, most recently on the Internet, is already a powerful tool. Now it is being used by cities to raise funds bypassing the traditional muni bond market. Central Falls, the Rhode Island city that filed for bankruptcy two years ago, is seeking to finance a park project through a crowdfunding website rather than the municipal-bond market. The city of about 19,000 wants $10,044 to put five trash cans in Jenks Park, which is currently “\”littered with garbage and debris,”...

Here it is...Robocop

Whoever thought a film that was rated “X” would inspire a city so much that it would feel the need to build a statue in its honor? As much as I’m a fan of the original Robocop (and am eagerly awaiting the upcoming reboot), I never in a million years would have believed that things would get so dire in Detroit that the city would go to a fictional character for hope. Needless to say, this is what has happened in one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. Two years ago there was a grassroots initiative to...

Russian techies are developing a series of robots that are designed specifically to do battle in terrorist camps and neutralize terrorists in the act, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told Ria Novosti newswire on Friday. The robo-cop will also be used to aid in evacuations from the scene of a terrorist attack, he said. Other anti-terrorist tech includes systems that can see through walls and engage shooters at long distances, he said. Rogozin did not say when robo-cop might be deployed by the country’s security and intelligence services.

Robocop c. 1924

Looks like Camden, New Jersey is ready for a Robocop police force I have seen the future of law enforcement, and recent news suggests that it could be coming to New Jersey. First of all, we are closer to having Robocops than ever. Over at C|Net, Tim Hornyak reports on a new project to deploy remote-controlled robotic police: Researchers at Florida International University's Discovery Lab are working with a member of the U.S. Navy Reserves to build telepresence robots that could patrol while being controlled by disabled police officers and military vets. In a sense, they would be hybrid man-machine...