Imperial Police
In eastern China, police are now patrolling the streets with a hovering robot that can chase down suspects – and, they say, beat them to a fight.
Since South China Morning Post Police in the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province were recently surrounded by a round robot that looks like a military version of the cutesy BB-8 robot in “Star Wars.”
Dubbed “Rotunbot” or “RT-G” for short, this round robot was developed by researchers at Zhejiang University on behalf of Shenzhen-based outfit Logon Technology. It is said to weigh about 275 pounds and travel up to 22 kilometers per hour – and according to Wang You, a professor who worked on it, it only takes a few seconds to reach that speed.
“This robot can survive accidents such as falling or being hit,” Wang said SCMP“and it can perform strategic actions such as enemy identification, tracking, and acquisition after modular processing.”
Equipped with net guns, tear gas, and speakers, this robot is also said to be good at scaring off potential attackers.
“If you win a fight, you end up in jail,” the robot was heard saying in a recent simulation watched by SCMP. “If you win a war, you end up in the hospital.”
Burning Rubber
While the “Star Wars” aesthetics are present in the RT-G’s design, its performance alone is almost identical to the 2010 sleeper horror hit “Rubber,” which follows the wheel’s feel as it wreaks havoc in the desert.
Although there seems to be no public demonstration of the robot working autonomously yet, a promotional video released by Logon ahead of RT-G’s deployment in Wenzhou shows that it can navigate a variety of conditions on its own.
“Constricted space, harsh weather, dangerous work environments, violence and war, all pose a serious threat to human life and activity,” reads a video version on the r/Cyberpunk subreddit. “So the amphibious, intelligent robot came out to replace humans in these areas.”
It’s a far cry from the crazy police robots that have been repeatedly installed and recalled by law enforcement in New York – and frankly, this one is very scary.
More on cop-bots: Eric Adams Was Impeached, But His Crappy Subway Robot Will Be “Delivered”