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Singapore Has Patrol Robots Now! This Should Be Fine.

posted by requerdanos on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-are-in-violation dept.

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.

Also at Engadget and Stuff.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @08:39AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @08:39AM (#1175804)

    George Floyd died of a drug overdose.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:47AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:47AM (#1175816)

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @11:02AM (#1175828)

      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:

      Signs associated with fentanyl toxicity include severe respiratory depression, seizures, hypotension, coma and
      death. In fatalities from fentanyl, blood concentrations are variable and have been reported as low as 3 ng/mL.

      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

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:27PM (#1175892)

        He was 100% ng/ml.

  • (Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:28PM (2 children)

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:28PM (#1175894)
    He did not. Even if he was going to die one heart-beat later he was still killed by Chauvin. You are entitled to that heartbeat. Them's the breaks when you're a mortal species.
    --
    🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:07PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:07PM (#1175910)

      Chauvin didn't kill him. Fentanyl did.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:23PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:23PM (#1175919)
        Not first.