It is not quite the “RoboCop” of the 1987 movie: no gun, no power to arrest and wheels rather than the Hollywood cyborg’s mechanical stride.
The robots can also answer questions about directions, parking and traffic rules, while an emergency function connects users with local police. Hangzhou’s traffic police did not respond to a request for comment, and Reuters could not independently verify the figures. A central platform allows traffic-police teams to monitor and dispatch them. Chery-backed robotics company AiMOGA sees potential for police robots in overseas markets where traffic officers face punishing roadside conditions, citing high temperatures in the Middle East and persistent rainy seasons in Southeast Asia.
Because they use cameras and other sensors, police robots would need to fit local law-enforcement IT systems, obtain certifications and comply with data-protection rules, Zhang said, particularly. But at a busy intersection in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, the 1.88-m (6-foot-2-inch) robot can spot a helmetless e-bike rider, issue a polite warning and swing its mechanical arms in sync with traffic lights. Developed by local technology firm SUPCON Information, the 98-kg (216-pound) T2 robot is part of a pilot aimed at handing some of police officers’ most repetitive traffic-control duties to machines. Cao said the robots operate autonomously from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., moving between pre-set positions at intersections without remote control.
Their seven-jointed arms reproduce standard traffic-police gestures synchronised with the signals, Cao said.
