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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: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:47AM (5 children)
Don't forget that the U.S. has already used a police robot to kill someone. (Dallas 2016).
Looking forward to the Fuchikoma.
(Score: 5, Informative) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 08 2021, @07:05AM (2 children)
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/08/use-robot-kill-dallas-suspect-first-experts-say/
"""
Police Use of Robot to Kill Dallas Suspect Unprecedented, Experts Say
The death of a suspect in the Dallas police shootings marks the first time U.S. police officers have used a robot to kill someone, according to Texas and national experts.
"""
I find the obsession - emphasising it in the headline and the lede - with this being the first time it's happened to be curious. Because thereafter, e.g. now - thanks AC, the world can say "no biggie, there's precedent". I think the focus is on completely the wrong thing. Is the deed itself good or bad, that's the important question. Whether it's been done before should be an irrelevancy. Does the bad magically become non-bad simply because it's done a lot?
However, this thread is essentially a slippery slope fallacy. The story is about non-armed bots, not about armed ones. Just because Singapore permits one, doesn't mean they'll permit, or even propose, the other.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:00PM (1 child)
Additionally, that wasn't an autonomous robot. It was their bomb disposal bot.
So they basically strapped a bomb to an RC car and drove it over.
So not quite apples and oranges either.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:16PM
I suspect Xavier will be turned into a RC vehicle after the C&C centre has received the alerts it sends out. They don't explicitly say so, but if it is a "C&C" centre, then it ought to be capable of doing some "C".
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:23PM (1 child)
The police used less a robot and more a remote-control bomb.
For the record my only real reason for this nitpick was the 'squeaky voice' remark, probably would have skipped replying if i hadn't caught the subject line. To bring it back on-topic: It does bring up a point about the terms we use: robot under direct meatbag control has a different meaning than a robot's programming compelling it to kill.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:19PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves