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What just happened? A new guardian has taken to patrolling the streets of Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward. Wingate City Lights properties recently welcomed a 5-foot-6-inch, 420-pound autonomous robot from Knightscope to help deter criminal activity along Boulevard, a corridor that has seen a concentration of violent crimes.
According to Atlanta Police Department data, at least 34 crimes against persons occurred on Boulevard over the past seven months, including incidents of murder, kidnapping, rape, and assault. The gritty stretch has emerged as a trouble spot in what Atlanta City Councilman Amir Farokhi describes as an otherwise "vibrant, walkable, thriving neighborhood."
Farokhi told 11Alive that he believes the Knightscope K5 robot, packed with AI capabilities to detect anomalies, could be the leading edge of a new technological approach to enhance public safety.
– Knightscope (@iKnightscope) August 16, 2024"It makes me feel safer, because it comes right here, scans right here, and then it'll turn around and go back. I love it," says Juanita Johnson of Atlanta. "And it works every day."
Learn more at https://t.co/FEPPdFa5zN pic.twitter.com/o5BxQhuJlO
The four-wheeled robot roams autonomously within a given area, using an array of cameras and sensors to identify potential threats or suspicious behavior. When it detects something out of the ordinary, it alerts human operators at a security center who can assess the situation and coordinate an appropriate response.
For now, the robot seems to be privately-owned and will only patrol private property, as indicated by the Wingate City Lights properties logo on its front. Wingate is also treating this as a trial run in partnership with local law enforcement. Data gathered by the bot will be shared with Atlanta PD as an "additional source of information," though the company and the police department are still working out the specifics of data retention.
"This is looking for information that's publicly available," explained Stacy Stephens, Knightscope's chief client officer. "So if you're in a public place, no different than going to the grocery store or your bank or anywhere else that you have CCTV cameras mounted."
Privacy implications are always a concern with surveillance of this sort. But in a neighborhood weary from the violent crime rate, residents simply don't seem to care.
Andre Johnson, a local resident, told 11Alive that privacy was hardly attainable anymore. He seemed to be more concerned about the crime levels, adding that the robot's already making the area "more safe than it used to be."
It's worth mentioning that this isn't the Knightscope K5's first security stint. The same robot went viral last year after it was put on duty at the Times Square subway station. Mayor Eric Adams' idea was to save money – the cost of leasing it averaged out to about just $9 per hour – while also enhancing safety.
Unfortunately, the idea didn't seem to work out because the robot was retired mere months after it was put into service. Reasons included commuters wanting to abuse it, which had prompted the police to assign officers to chaperone the robot, according to the New York Times. And perhaps more amusingly, it could not use stairs.
Image credit: Knightscope