A police robot, named K-5, will patrol New York City’s busiest subway station overnight in a new pilot program.
“We have to use every method available,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Friday morning announcing the robot’s deployment.
The mayor said the city rents the robot for $9 an hour, noting that’s below the city’s minimum wage.
“It’s profitable,” Adams said. “No bathroom breaks, no food breaks.”
The 420-pound robot will be patrolling the station from midnight to 5 a.m. during the two-month test in two weeks.
“We’re taking existing technology and putting it on wheels,” Adams said.
He stressed that while it will record video, it won’t record audio or facial recognition technology.
The robot will have a button to report a crime to a living person, but an NYPD officer will be with the robot at all times during the trial.
City officials hope the robot will be able to operate on its own after testing.
Knightscope manufactures the K-5. He said the 5-foot-tall robot can operate indoors or outdoors and has a top speed of three miles per hour.
The company said it can be recharged without any human intervention.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which has criticized other technologies the NYPD has put in place, including robotic police dogssays the police robot could create privacy issues.
“Even as city agencies are cutting their budgets, the NYPD prides itself on new and unnecessary surveillance tools,” said Daniel Schwarz, senior privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “New Yorkers deserve comprehensive oversight, regulation and transparency when it comes to new surveillance tools to ensure that our personal data is not exploited and that no community is harassed, targeted or abused.”
A similar robot is now being used to patrol a mall in Ohio. The robot named SAM began patrolling the streets of an outdoor mall in Westlake last month.
English 
Español de Venezuela 