We’re sure that most of us have seen the movies where robot police are patrolling the streets, where unlike human police officers, everything is done by the book and there is no such thing as leniency. It almost feels oppressive, but ultimately we guess it makes things a lot more black and white, not to mention more efficient.It seems that by the end of the year, a scenario that’s close to the one described above will become a reality over in Dubai. According to a report from Gulf News (via The Verge), the city will be introducing a self-driving robotic car that will help to patrol the streets. The robot is built by Singapore-based startup OTSAW Digital, who for those unfamiliar actually unveiled this particular robot last month.
Dubai is expected to be the first city in the world to introduce the O-R3 robot to its police force. It will not be replacing any police officers, but rather it will help to accomplish low-level enforcement tasks. According to the commander of the Dubai Police Force, Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, “We seek to augment operations with the help of technology such as robots. Essentially, we aim for streets to be safe and peaceful even without heavy police patrol.”
The addition of the O-R3 is part of Dubai’s plans to have a robotic police force by 2030. Whether or not it will prove to be useful and efficient remains to be seen.
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