Microsoft is using a fleet of 5-foot tall robots as the front line in security for its campus in Silicon Valley.
The robot, called the K5, includes HD security cameras and sensors along with artificial intelligence that sounds alarms when it thinks something is going wrong. It can even read license plates and cross-reference plates to determine if the vehicle has been stolen.
A company called Knightscope is making the robots. According to the company, the robots are "autonomous data machines" that can provide a "commanding by friendly presence."
The 300-pound robots do not have any weapons and they're made to assess any given situation. If something goes wrong, they sound the alarm or call a human security officer to the scene. Sometime in the future the robots may be equipped with tasers.
Once charged, they can run for 24 hours. Once the battery starts getting low the robots can return themselves to a charging port and plug themselves in. A full charge takes 20 minutes.
"The K5 utilizes a combination of autonomous technology, robotics and predictive analytics to provide a commanding but friendly physical presence while gathering important real-time on-site data with its numerous sensors," says the company on its website.
Knightscope has been developing the K5 since it won the Startup Company of the Year award from the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2013. According to the company, its goal is to reduce crime by 50 percent.
"Our approach alleviates any privacy concerns, engages the community on a social level to effectively crowdsource security, and provides an important feedback loop to the prediction engine," continued the company on its web site.
The robots come with heat detectors, GPS navigation, microphones, speakers, pollution and odor detectors and will have a video camera that can scan license plate numbers and run facial recognition software. The data the robot collects is processed through an analytics engine as well as existing business, government and other data sets. The data is then given an alert level that determines whether or not authorities should be notified.
"Technology and robotics are making the concept of Precision Policing -- a systematic, proactive and almost precognitive approach to ensuring public safety -- a real possibility," said William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of the company, in a blog post.
The company hopes to expand the use of the robots in law enforcement agencies. For now, however, the company hopes to offer the units to other businesses and corporate campuses.
