Do you know why I pulled you over?
Um, wait, are you a robot? RoboCop — cop of the future?
That’s right, imagine you’re testing your limits by going 50 in a 35. Great, now, you’re getting pulled over. You roll your window down expecting to see a stern officer waiting on the other side. Instead, you see a pole with a tablet RoboCop. No longer is there a person, instead, a video chat is happening with the officer in the car behind you. But, would it make you feel better to know the tablet is wearing a helmet?
Reuben Brewer is working to make police stops safer. He’s developing his police robot for SRI International in the company’s Applied Technologies and Science Department. His goal is to make it safer for officers. Right now, you have the potential of a passenger/officer altercation and collision from passing cars. There are nearly 100 deaths every year due to traffic stops. Could this change that?
The idea is that you would chat with the officer via a tablet. It comes equipped with a barcode scanner to review you driver’s license. There’s also a printer to give you the dreaded citation. One step further, the RoboCop discreetly places a spike strip under the car to prevent fleeing.
Although this sounds like a solution, I just don’t know if I can take it seriously. How much respect can you give a tablet wearing a helmet? I suppose just a handful of years ago I didn’t think I’d prefer checking my own groceries or doing all my banking online. Perhaps this is just the natural progression of the way the world is going. But, how am I going to talk my way out of a ticket if there’s not a person right there to try to emotionally sabotage?
Source: Gizmodo
