Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid was able to film a Knightscope K5 security robot patrolling a sidewalk in San Francisco this week, complete with ominous decal announcing “YOU ARE BEING RECORDED”. Reporting on it as a prototype back in 2014, Laughing Squid wrote:
“The Knightscope K5 Autonomous Data Machine is a mobile robotic security guard with a slew of built-in sensors designed to patrol and monitor an area. The egg-shaped rolling robot has GPS and laser scanning built-in and utilizes prediction algorithms and social analytics to identify and assess potential concerns. Data collected by the robot is also made public to help crowdsource those predictions. Knightscope’s creators plan to charge an hourly fee to rent the robot that will likely significantly undercut the going price of their human counterparts.”
Maybe I read too much Orwell as a kid but I can totally imagine seeing these creepy Dalek-lookalikes depressing Vancouver pedestrians within the next couple of years. What about you?