The Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and Kyonggi University are teaming up to develop robot prison guards that look like the conceptual image above. This may well help keep human prison guards safe, but I’m not sure how effective it will be. You can easily imagine inmates destroying these expensive creations in creative ways. We will soon find out how it goes since they plan to run a trial with three of these robots in real prisons next year. The project reportedly will cost 1 billion won ($875,000).
These Prison bots will stand five feet tall (152 centimeters) and weigh about 154 lbs (70 kilograms) and move at a human’s walking speed as it patrols, looking not at all intimidating. It will beam live video to its superiors and also allow them to communicate with prisoners via a speaker and microphone. Hey, I saw that shiv you stashed under the bed! So, they are basically functioning as expensive telepresence robots… (Or Tele-prison)
It will be interesting to see what comes of this project. At best, it will free up some staff for other duties. At worst, the warden finds a bunch of robot parts in the courtyard.
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