AI Robot now Patrolling Parking Lot in Kansas City Area

 

Something not dentally related, but since Artificial Intelligence is showing up in so many ways in our world, I thought this deserved a mention.

I read with interest recently abut a Kansas City area strip mall with a crime problem.  They were suffering from smash & grabs in the parking lot as well as businesses having windows broken and thefts.  In a normal situation like that, a landlord would hire a private security firm to provide people to keep an eye on things.

Unfortunately the landlord had little success with private security.  The company found that option to be expensive and unreliable, with some guards simply not showing up for work.  So instead of more human beings, the landlord decided to try security from another angle and the purchased a Knightscope K5 outdoor security robot.

  This little guy is always on the job and only takes breaks to recharge the batteries.  It has some amazing capabilities including:

• LIDAR
• 4 cameras
• Live audio
• Sonar
• Works in low or no light conditions

It is self propelled and the cameras it carries are always on and recording.  It also has the ability to read license plates and record the IP addresses of nearby connected devices, such as cell phones.  The landlord states that since bringing the security robot onto the property their crime has been reduced significantly.

We're going to see more and more devices like this.  Last summer I was in a restaurant that had a robot bringing drinks to customers.