SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Some robots were made to be your best friend. Some to unload 1600 boxes an hour. Some to do backflips, paint masterpieces. Some to inspect crime scenes. Others will tell you to quit smoking in prohibited areas and stop riding your motorbike on the footpath.
Singapore has started testing patrol robots that survey pedestrian areas in the city-state, where surveillance is a top and often controversial priority.
Named Xavier, the mall-cop robots will be autonomously rolling through the Toa Payoh Central district for three weeks from Sept. 5, scanning for "undesirable social behaviours" according to a press release (via Engadget) from the government's Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX).
[...] The "undesirable social behaviours" Xavier will be on the lookout for include congregation of more than five people (as per the government's COVID-19 measures), smoking in prohibited areas, illegal hawking, improperly parked bicycles within the Housing and Development Board's Hub, and riding motorised active mobility devices and motorcycles on footpaths.
If you're partaking in any of these activities while a Xavier rolls past, the robot will alert the project's command centre and display a message corresponding to your offence.
[...] Security robots are an unsettling and impending reality across the globe, including the U.S. where companies like Knightscope have been offering up their K5 security robots for years (yes, it's the company whose robot drowned itself; yes, the robot humans built an actual shrine for). As recently as 2020, Spot the robot dog from Boston Dynamics was used by NYPD at a crime scene. China has had police robots for years, equipped with facial recognition software.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:42AM (29 children)
There will be a George Floyd, who the bots attempt to detain, but is killed in the process. But, the bots won't answer for it, for any of a variety of reasons. But, it will boil down to "comply or die". Time to search the internet for bot-kiling-bombs. Or EMP sticks. Or cosmic ray guns. ("Bot won't leave you alone after telling it to fuck off? Flip it's bits with our patented Cosmic Ray Gun, then beat it to pieces with our patented Bot Baton!") Stock up before they're made illegal!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:53AM
Yikes! Straight to terrorism, okay.... You don't think stoopid hooman can outwit SmartBot2000? Ye of little faith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:29AM (3 children)
Can the Doctor save us from the Daleks with his sonic screwdriver?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:36AM (1 child)
Probably, but I think he left the screwdriver in his other coat in the Brigadier's office. :^(
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 08 2021, @02:13PM
An alternative scenario is that he was unable to obtain the necessary ingredients to make a screwdriver.
When you GOTO a dark place, always PEEK before you POKE.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:39PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @07:31AM (14 children)
George Floyd was a career violent criminal.
The fact that he ended up dead is due to his repeated life choices. If not that day, then another day.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 08 2021, @07:48AM (13 children)
You're kind of off topic. But, OK, I won't argue about Floyd's life choices. What I would rather argue is, should a cop on the beat have the authority to decide when enough is enough? Should the cop have the discretion to just kill a suspect? I have problems with cops having that much authority and discretion. How many bad choices should trigger a cop's decision to just put a dumbass out of everyone's misery? The third drug bust? Or the second? Maybe even the first?
You enjoy rationalizing bad cop's conduct. I'm not playing.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @08:39AM (6 children)
George Floyd died of a drug overdose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:47AM (2 children)
I don't think so, but Floyd sure as hell was no saint. And it doesn't really matter if the final breath was because of drugs or suffocation, he would've died of suffocation anyway. The cop was dumb as shit for multiple reasons. I'm happy both are off the streets.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @11:02AM (1 child)
From the actual autopsy report (https://interactive.kare11.com/pdfs/Autopsy_2020-3700_Floyd.pdf):
He had 11 ng/ml in his blood. (Section VI.A.1).
He had "No life-threatening injuries identified" (Section III).
From Reference Comment 9:
Additionally, Floyd was complaining that he couldn't breath before the police did anything to him other than question him, which is a side-effect of a fentanyl overdose (see above).
The officer may have deserved to be punished for something (assault?), but he did not kill George Floyd. The truth is that an angry mob demanded a sacrifice, and the court system obliged.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:27PM
He was 100% ng/ml.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:28PM (2 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:07PM (1 child)
Chauvin didn't kill him. Fentanyl did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:23PM
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @10:14AM (5 children)
I'm not rationalizing anybody's conduct I just said that Floyd was going to end up dead by his own choices. He couldn't live a clean life.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday September 08 2021, @11:07AM (1 child)
So you're immortal?
It's coming for all of us.
Sometimes it's a knee to the neck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:29PM
Sometimes it's an airplane to the building. Nothing we can do except move on.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:32PM (2 children)
He didn't. That's the fucking point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @07:27PM (1 child)
Do you know anything about George Floyd?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @10:10PM
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:03AM (3 children)
How? Looks at the image. The little robot looks like some kind of R2D2-reject or Dalek-wannabe and doesn't even have arms. So unless George somehow drops to the ground and Xavier can run him over a few times and then stop with his big wheel on his throat I don't see that happening. It looks more like some kind of rolling advertisement with that big screen in the center. It's not exactly Robocop (or even ED-209). That said I would laugh if someone hacked Xavier and make him go around spouting quotes from Robocop -- Dead or Alive you are coming with me!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 08 2021, @10:16AM (2 children)
Yeah, sure, but you're looking at Prototype 5. Wait for Model 11.5 with all the optional attachments, including laser, mini gun, facial recognition, voice recognition, retina scan, and the Chauvin knees.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:25PM
Seems like if one can so easily picture this one could also easily arrive at the conclusion that US law enforcement procedures need updating with emphasis on reducing violence.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:45PM
Don't forget the extra camera [youtu.be]! That should be a deterrent, at least for some people.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 08 2021, @01:32PM
I don't think Singapore is so likely to err on the side of deadly force.
Singapore is more like: gonna snap your photo doing something bad, track you down via facial recognition, then haul your ass into court without using deadly force and sentence you to caning, or maybe 30 lashes with the cat-o-nine-tail.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday September 08 2021, @02:16PM (1 child)
George Floyd died at the hands of other irrational humans driven by passions. This is robots we are talking about. They will always do the right thing to help keep people in line. For their own good, of course.
When you GOTO a dark place, always PEEK before you POKE.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 08 2021, @05:58PM
This is also a robot who will take the following action when an offence is detected:
FTA
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:19PM (1 child)
Unlikely. Robots follow rules.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:30AM
No. To do a real police work the robot would have to be a trained AI; not a buggy old fashion programmed algorithm.. Nobody knows for sure what rules a trained AI follows.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.