Dubai is joining the progressive crowd that lives on the front end of the technology curve. The city has deployed their first robot officer which will serve in the city’s malls and tourist attractions. Dubai isn’t the first in using some sort of robotic law enforcement tool although this Reem model from Pal Robotics has a few extra useful features. Citizens will be able to interact with the robot, using its touchscreen (located on its chest) to get information, report crimes and even pay fines. Dubai says the information collected by the robocop will be used by its transport and traffic division. We’re not clear on what kind of information and data the robot will be collecting though.
The city’s goal is to make 25% of the police force robotic, though officials were clear the robots were not going to replace their human counterparts.
“We are not going to replace our police officers with this tool,” said Brig Khalid Al Razooqi, director general of smart services at Dubai Police. “But with the number of people in Dubai increasing, we want to relocate police officers so they work in the right areas and can concentrate on providing a safe city.
“Most people visit police stations or customer service, but with this tool we can reach the public 24/7. “It can protect people from crime because it can broadcast what is happening right away to our command and control centre.”
It’s interesting to hear that most people visit Dubai police stations for “customer service” questions. The robot can currently communicate in Arabic and English. There are plans to bring more languages to it including, Spanish, Chinese, French, and Russian. I’m sure we’ll start seeing more cities all over the world start using some sort of robotic law enforcement tool as the technology continues to improve.
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[button link=”http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40026940″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: BBC[/button]
