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This "Minority Report" robot aims to patrol our streets by 2015... for $6.25 an hour.

by Joe Mobley
16 replies
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California-based Knightscope has designed a 5-foot-tall, 300-pound automaton called the K5 to combat crime and provide for public safety. Oh yeah, and it'll work for just $6.25 an hour.
Officially dubbed the K5 Autonomous Data Machine, the 300-pound, 5-foot-tall mobile robot will be equipped with nighttime video cameras, thermal imaging capabilities, and license plate recognition skills. It will be able to function autonomously for select operations, but more significantly, its software will provide crime prediction that's reminiscent, the company claims, of the "precog" plot point of "Minority Report."
A better security guard -- at the expense of human jobs
While keeping schools safe is an undeniably noble pursuit, Knightscope, with its competitive hourly pricing model, is also targeting the security industry from the bottom up, taking aim at the particularly vulnerable group of 1.3 million private security guards nationwide
This crime-predicting robot aims to patrol our streets by 2015 | Cutting Edge - CNET News

It continues to be an interesting world.

Joe Mobley
  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
    Almost as plausible as Amazon droids...

    Neither will even be in operation by 2030 but publicity stunts will still be as popular as ever!
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      The predictive software is already available and getting better.

      How Target knows Your Daughter is Pregnant.

      Some years ago I worked for a company that used Kiva robots in their shipping department. Amazon has since bought Kiva Systems.


      At less than $7.00 per hour, expect to see R2D2 roaming the mall in 2 to 3 years.

      Joe Mobley

      Originally Posted by Daniel Evans View Post

      Almost as plausible as Amazon droids...

      Neither will even be in operation by 2030 but publicity stunts will still be as popular as ever!
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    btw a crime prediction software for convenience stores already exists and its being rolled out in certain major chains at the moment.

    It isn't sci-fi at all

    The real problem is that it looks gay and tha tif I were a kid I'd be tempted to spray paint it or something.

    they should add machineguns on it as a deterrent.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    This "Minority Report" robot aims to patrol our streets by 2015... for $6.25 an hour.
    The robots should form a union, they're getting shafted on their paycheck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      ...or maybe people demanding a doubling of their pay will find themselves replaced by robots?

      Best new robot is a remote controlled snow plow designed by four new college grads (engineers, of course).

      Remember: robots don't ask for a raise, don't expect coffee breaks, have no interest in unionizing, don't ask for vacation or health benefits. Could be the perfect employee.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        ...or maybe people demanding a doubling of their pay will find themselves replaced by robots?
        With legal online casinos coming to a state near you soon, don't forget casino dealers too. Why tip a dealer when a computer can deal without tips (or pay)?


        Remember: robots don't ask for a raise, don't expect coffee breaks, have no interest in unionizing, don't ask for vacation or health benefits. Could be the perfect employee.
        They don't buy anything, either, which isn't very good for a consumer based economy.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          They don't buy anything, either, which isn't very good for a consumer based economy.
          Kurt; Your amazingly insightful thought, and your total lack of sarcasm is irritating.

          Well said.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
    Thanks to Capitalism, such cheaply "paid" robots are going to be cheaply made.
    Perhaps in China or Mexico?

    Thus, all of those poor security guards will be able to get just a little
    education and get higher paying jobs: As security robot technicians!
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Employees are being jacked out of jobs via technology all over industry. You think we're screaming about welfare now - wait until millions more can't get jobs because there aren't any. The phone companies were automating out employees in the late 80's - didn't need to go overseas, just automated. How much automation can we replace people with without collapsing? The people that the phone company replaced with automation weren't people that were simply not skilled or educated enough to not be able to get other jobs, either, but back then there was a full market to absorb them. Where do people go now? It's not so easy as telling people to get some skills when there's not enough jobs that require some skills to support the population at large.

    This whole issue is just one more reason that we need to drop off large corporations and go back to mom and pop stores. You might have to shop at more stores to get what you want - but they will be stores that feel some social responsibility in their own communities, and they will create communities that are sustainable again. Maybe we could even bring back manufacturing if we made it hard enough for the companies that stock nothing but import to exist.

    I'm thinking of black friday mania crowds and know that our population isn't generally smart enough that we can get this done on a large scale, but I can still hope for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    The robot you show here for amazon is not all that special. Why would one consider IT scifi? They have had robots that did MORE than those even like 30 years ago.

    And the idea of datamining to determine a HOUSEHOLD likely has a pregnant female, and checking certain tastes and buying patterns to determine she is likely young, is not even that special.

    But they think they can ACCURATELY predict crime? They think that they can trust a ROBOT to do this? It is ODD that it should refer to the minority report. It is called the minority report because they created THREE people that could SEE into the future. One DID seem to get it! The other two seemed to only SEE!

    But they conveyed the info to others through what they SAW, and at least 2 had to report a crime! So it was doomed to failure! You see, they made mistakes because of the limited perception which forced THEM to ASSUME, and the BETTER person often had her opinion THROWN OUT as a (minority report)!

    In the end, the creator of the program used its failings to frame TWO people. One of them was on the inside, and managed to expose much of it to people that released him when he was caught, and exposed it to everyone else, and the program was TERMINATED!

    And what of ROBOCOP? They created a guy that was a near perfect cop, but he was driven by an altruistic PERSON! Some company tried to replace him with a robot that turned out to be unreliable, and IT was terminated.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      The robot you show here for amazon is not all that special.
      You have to look at the big picture to appreciate the Amazon warehouse bots. Each individual bot isn't a big deal but when you look at all the bots progress over the entire warehouse, it's kind of a big deal.

      It's not just moving product around a warehouse, it's optimizing logistics, which no group of humans (employees) could physically/mentally do non-stop 24/7 on such a large scale.

      A schematic of a warehouse floor. Shelves with fast-selling items are indicated in red. Blue squares show slow-selling items. Robots rearrange the shelves to keep the fast-selling items at the perimeter, close to packing stations.



      The million dollar question is, where can I get a list of all the fast selling red products (image above).

      [edit]
      In that schematic above, you can pretty much bet there's a bottleneck where the employees are packing, before product is loaded on the delivery trucks.
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      • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
        Yep, all pretty funny!

        Maybe we should create a few hundred thousand of these things?

        It would only take one p*** off hacker, to take over?


        These things look like a Sony Walkman on wheels? :rolleyes:


        Same old story, a team of engineers get swept up in the hysteria of it all, and create this!

        Then some crooks, or bored street kids, find a simple way to topple one of these glorified toasters on its's side, and yank out the expensive stuff before help arrives!

        Still a cool concept to create a sci-fi type situation, but still very easy to damage!


        Only a matter of time before some college grads, dress these things up in Dalek, outfits and it makes the news! He, he!


        Can't wait for that one! :rolleyes:


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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        You have to look at the big picture to appreciate the Amazon warehouse bots. Each individual bot isn't a big deal but when you look at all the bots progress over the entire warehouse, it's kind of a big deal.

        It's not just moving product around a warehouse, it's optimizing logistics, which no group of humans (employees) could physically/mentally do non-stop 24/7 on such a large scale.
        I did NOT say they were worthless, slow, expensive, etc... OBVIOUSLY they save time! And they OBVIOUSLY have goals they are setup to achieve, and avoid one another. A central system almost certainly plans out the paths for new tasks, and makes them only SEEM more intelligent.

        BTW about 30 years ago, they made a BETTER robot! For what YOU suggest. GRANTED, it was smaller, and used for digital libraries, but imagine what it could do HERE! Plan it out right, and the whole warehouse could be VACANT! ROBOTS could direct the trucks, unload them, and load them. It isn't even THAT different from what some old cartoons used to illustrate. Sadly, the trucks, contrary to what many would have you believe, are harder to automate, especially with today's roads.

        Heysal is right. A LOT of a store or restaurant could be AUTOMATED! I have said THAT for about 30+ years. At this point, it should be OBVIOUS to anyone! And I know that a lot of my job could be automated. Luckily, I think those smart enough to do it right are smart enough not to bother. And there ARE other areas that will NEVER be automated.

        HECK, I even support an app that automates some of what I used to do. Companies STILL need a lot of peripheral work, etc...

        Steve
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