Security Robots Are Coming to New York Subway Stations

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is launching a new security measure at the Times Square subway station. Authorities announced that they will activate a security robot to protect citizens. This robot looks more like a large version of R2-D2, the kind of robot we are familiar with from Star Wars.

The K5 robot, which weighs approximately 190 kilograms, has no hands or feet. Even though K5 has 4 cameras, it cannot record sound. The robot will patrol the station between midnight and 6 a.m. for the next two months. However, K5 will not be doing a full patrol at first, as it will spend its first two weeks mapping the station and just going around the main areas.

It's not yet clear whether the NYPD will stream this robot's footage live and whether police will watch the recordings. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that the robot will record video in case of an emergency or crime.

However, K5 does not currently have facial recognition capability. Therefore, there are some doubts about the functionality of the robot. To put it bluntly, the K5 is not capable of responding to real emergencies. The biggest help it can provide people is providing a button to immediately report an incident or call for help.

The K5 robot is manufactured by California-based company Knightscope and will be rented by New York City for about $9 for the next two months. For now, K5 doesn't appear to be effective in many scenarios, but it does offer a promising vision of the future. Police and security personnel impose costs on municipalities and states. A robot working at $9 per hour offers a very economical solution. Moreover, robots do not need to rest, eat or go to the toilet. Additionally, robots are always available. Earlier this year, the Mayor announced that the NYPD would purchase $750,000 worth of robot dogs for hostage rescue and other critical situations.