Traffic Stop Robocop

American nonprofit research institute SRI International has developed a prototype of what it’s calling a “police robot,” as IEEE Spectrum reports. The robot is meant to prevent accidents that occur when the police pull over drivers.

The brain behind the bot is Rueben Brewer, a senior robotics research engineer at SRI. Brewer started building the prototype in his garage.

“With such dangerous interactions between people, maybe it’s time to send a robot in between them, one that can’t hurt or be hurt,” reads the caption of the video. “Our robot goes between people to keep everyone safe.”

License and Registration

The cop bot is attached to a telescopic robotic arm that can extend from the side of the cop car to reach the window of the pulled over vehicle in front of it. The office is then able to communicate with the driver via a webcam.

From there, Brewer’s robocop can do it all: it can scan the driver’s license, spit out a ticket, and even deploy spikes to stop a perp from getting away.

READ MORE: Video Friday: Watch This ‘RoboCop’ Make a Traffic Stop [IEEE Spectrum]



More on robocops: India Just Swore in Its First Robot Police Officer