If you thought the threat of police robots died with the demise of New York’s subway bot, you’d be wrong. A new rolling robot has been sent into the field in China. The spherical crime fighting device is a lot more sinister than New York’s failed attempt at robot policing and comes armed with net-throwing guns, tear gas and can pursue suspects at up to 22 miles per hour.
If all that sounds like your idea of a sci-fi nightmare, then you might want to look away now. Police in the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province rolled out these monsters last week, reports Futurism. Called the Rotunbot, they consist of a huge rubber tire that fits around a sphere that’s about two feet high.
Within sphere is all the tech that powers the robot, including the motors to spin its one wheel, the computers to power the systems that will allow it to run autonomously and its weapons, as Futurism reports:
Named the “Rotunbot” or “RT-G” for short, this spherical robot was created by researchers at Zhejiang University on behalf of a Shenzen-based outfit called Logon Technology. It reportedly weighs about 275 pounds and travels up to 22 miles-per-hour — and according to Wang You, an associate professor who worked on it, only takes a few seconds to reach that speed.
“This robot can cope with dangers such as falling or being beaten,” Wang told SCMP, “and can perform tactical actions such as enemy identification, tracking, and capture after modular modification.”
Equipped with net-guns, tear gas, and speakers, the robot is also reportedly pretty good at scaring off any would-be attackers.
The speakers built into the robot allow it to throw out intimidating threats, such as “if you win the fight, you’ll end up in jail,” reports the South China Morning Post. And, rather alarmingly, “if you lose the fight, you’ll end up in hospital.”
Authorities designed the robot to operate in “hostile” situations and claim it “cannot be smashed,” reports SCMP. In such settings, it could reportedly be deployed alongside drones and robot dogs being utilized by officers in China, as SCMP adds:
Wenzhou police said the robot remained operational, even after being attacked at close range, and could come and go easily in crowds and extreme environments.
The spherical robot was a new attempt to help Wenzhou police with intelligent equipment, to improve patrol efficiency and their ability to handle crises, the report said.
It’s a pretty ridiculous creation, and one that looks somehow more terrifying than a robot dog armed with a machine gun. The big question from here is: are autonomous robots really the future of policing and worth the investment, or would your tax dollars be better spent investing in support and infrastructure that helps vulnerable people and focuses on rehabilitation rather than filling more and more prison cells?
