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With an aim to beef up campus security and potentially confront intruders, a school in New Mexico in the United States has started a pilot programme in which a robot patrols the campus 24 hours a day and seven days a week. According to The Wall Street Journal report, several companies are now offering robots to schools across the country after the rising incidents of shootings in schools.
The report further adds that the robot in Santa Fe High School is learning the school’s normal activities and spots individuals who are seen in the campus after hours or exhibit aggressive behaviour. The school is running a 60-day pilot program that began in June to test its effectiveness.
How Will The Robot Function:
The robot will alert the security team if there is an active shooter or other form of threat.
Seeing the threat, the robot will move towards the intruder and transmit video footage to inform law enforcement officers about the course of action.
It is important to note that the robot, although not armed, will be able to confront the intruders and the security team members can interact with the intruder through the machine’s robot communication system.
The school has opted to disable the robot’s weapon detection features during the pilot test.
Santa Fe Public School’s executive director of safety and security Mario Salbidrez told The Wall Street Journal that the security team is evaluating whether it can be added later.
According to report, the robot does not have facial recognition features and the school owns its video footage. It means the school can decide whether or not to save it. Created by Team 1st Technologies, an Albuquerque-based robotics company, the 400-pound, four-wheeled robot currently roaming Santa Fe High School can provide 360-degree video footage.
As of now, the robot has not spotted intruders on the campus, but has alerted security team to the new workers who are entering the school construction site and individuals trying to open locked doors in harmless bids to enter the buildings.
Mario Salbidrez, executive director of safety and security at Santa Fe Public Schools, told KRQE that the robot would supplement the existing security system the district has in place.