The NYPD is piloting a 420-pound robocop to roam Times Square's subway station
gothamist.com
gothamist.com
The dystopia looks slick, I was expecting ED-209[1]...
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/07/knightscope-k5-secur...
It's a giant 400lb thing with a few cameras. It wonders around in a pre defined area, playing pre recorded messages when it thinks things are in its way that shouldn't be.
It seems deliberately designed to be smooth on the outside and shaped such that it would be difficult to grab it and do anything like load it in a truck.
That's it, that's the product.
I dont see how it helps, it was nothing more than a novelty and distraction in our neighborhood.
Honestly, the thing like this that seems to do the most good are those trailer mounted surveillance towers with 25/7 monitored cameras, police lights and megaphone.
Just because someone could be identified doesn't necessarily mean that some lunatic (or group thereof) wouldn't attempt it.
I'm vaguely familiar with that station, from what I remember there's a very large mezzanine level that's below the street but still upstairs from the platforms, I imagine that's where it's going to be used.
Now that you've forced me to think about it, if it fell onto the tracks at the point where the train exits the tunnel then the train is still going at considerable speed. If at that point it broke rather than slid (caused, say, by a protruding part getting caught/jammed between a tie and the ground) then the scenario could end up being very nasty.