Dubai's police department deployed its first robotic officer. Should the computerized cop perform as well as its organic equivalents, the department could assign a quarter of its patrolling duties to robots by 2030.
Clad in the uniform of Dubai's police department - right up to the cap - the human-size robot is difficult to distinguish from its peers and can even perform the same salutes. The cyborg represents the latest step in the government's plan to use technology to improve services and security before the city hosts Expo 2020.
"These kind of robots can work 24/7," Brigadier Khalid Nasser al-Razzooqi, director-general of the Smart Services Department at Dubai Police, said on Thursday, using arguments common among advocates of automatons. "They won't ask you for leave, sick leave or maternity leave. It can work around the clock."
Dubai police are no strangers to high-tech high-cash flash. Lamborghinis and Ferraris already patrol roads of the affluent Arab emirate. However, deploying the first automated policeman in the Middle East, a robot on wheels equipped with cameras and facial recognition software, take that to a whole new level.
As law enforcement falls under scrutiny in Germany, the the United States and elsewhere, cities have sought new ways to reduce the unrest caused by police violenceand a growing mistrust of officers. And robots are increasingly being assigned to human tasks.
Courtesy:DW