In Singapore, Public Order Began to Monitor the Robots

In Sin­ga­pore, as an exper­i­ment, two Xavier robots were launched in the cen­tral Toa Pay­oh dis­trict to mon­i­tor com­pli­ance with the rules. The robots are com­plete­ly autonomous, but at the same time con­stant­ly broad­cast video from a 360-degree cam­era to the con­trol cen­ter. Also, robots can shoot video not only in the day­time, but also at night.

The task of the robots is to keep order on the street with an intense flow of pedes­tri­ans. They make sure that no one smokes in pro­hib­it­ed places, does not ride vehi­cles on foot­paths, and does not vio­late pub­lic order. Also, robots mon­i­tor com­pli­ance with the rules of park­ing vehi­cles.

In case of detec­tion of an offense, the robot trans­mits a sig­nal to the con­trol cen­ter in real time. And in case of a seri­ous offense, a police detach­ment leaves the place. If the offense is not seri­ous, then the inspec­tor can talk to the offend­er direct­ly through the exter­nal speak­ers of the robot.

Based on the results of the exper­i­ment, a deci­sion will be made on the effec­tive­ness of such mea­sures in pub­lic places. And per­haps, in the near future, robots will patrol all pub­lic places in Sin­ga­pore and oth­er cities.