You all know that deadweight feeling in your gut when a cop stops you on the road, right? The experience is seldom a pleasant one. Reuben Brewer, a Senior Robotics Research Engineer in SRI International’s Applied Technologies and Science Department (ATSD) however believes that it can also be a dangerous experience. His solution is a police robot.
The video’s description reads, ‘every year: 16,915,140 drivers are pulled-over in traffic. 195,078 motorists have physical force used on them, and 4,488 officers are assaulted. 89 of those motorists die, and 11 of those officers die.’ In order to prevent such incidents from taking place and as an attempt to avoid such grim consequences, Reuben Brewer has come up with a ‘police robot’.
According to Reuben Brewer, the police robot is a robot ‘that can’t hurt or be hurt. Our robot goes between people to keep everyone safe.’ The police robot features a TV screen where the face of the officer can be seen. In the video, the police robot can be seen communicating with the driver using web cameras. It even has a telescopic robotic arm that can be reached out.
All of this started in the garage of Reuben Brewer. However, he now has big plans for his police robot that seems to be able to do almost everything that a real cop can. He says, ‘This prototype is a work in progress that I started in my garage and now work on at SRI international. It’s only part of the solution, but I hope one day it could save lives.’
What are your thoughts on the police robot? Should we make the transition towards police robots or should we focus on making cops better humans? Police brutality and dire consequences can be addressed if we, as a society and species, could transform our perspective and focus on love and peace. Don’t you think?
