Recently, Kerala Chief Minister inaugurated KP-BOT, first humanoid police robot in Thiruvananthapuram. Read on to know the various functionalities of this interesting humanoid cop…
It is nightmare experience to go and file a complaint at a police station, without also being confused about the various processes involved. So the police in Thiruvananthapuram came up with a new information assistant at their headquarters that is going to make visitors more comfortable.
India has embarked on the high road of automation. Soon, when you enter the Kerala Police Headquarters in the state capital, you would be greeted by a robot. It has become the first police department in the country to use a robot for police work.
Recently, Kerala Chief Minister inaugurated KP-BOT, first humanoid police robot at the Kerala Police headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. According to reports, KP-bot will perform duties at the front office of police headquarters as visitors enter and attempt to help them complete their official business efficiently. The KP-BOT robot is said to greet the police officers and receive the visitors and direct them to different places according to their needs at the Kerala Police headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram.
“At present, about four persons are required to do the front office duty,” said the Director general of police Loknath Behra. “Now, it would be managed by the KP-BOT.”
The first KP-BOT has been assigned a female gender. As the DGP says, “Women empowerment and gender equality were kept in mind while deciding on the gender of the first robot.” Then again, he adds in the same breath, “The fact that most front office jobs are managed by women was considered.”
Official Responsibilities
As the first contact point in the Kerala Police Headquarters, Thiruvananthapuram, the humanoid will work as an assistant to direct visitors. Along with this, KP-Bot will also work to collect the necessary data, which can improve the quality and performance. However, according to sources — the humanoid version of a policeman would not replace any human resources, rather, it can be used as the first contact point and a tool to collect the required data with which they can improve the overall service quality and performance.
Specifically speaking on the official responsibilities of KP-BOT, it will help issue visitors IDs, fix appointments, collect personal information, and guide them to the appropriate sections. Supposedly the robot is equipped with facial recognition in order to recognize officers around the station. It can also apparently create case files or complaints and connect petitioners to the concerned officers via Skype when needed.
The Kerala Police Cyberdome worked with Asimov Robotics, a Kochi based start-up, to introduce KP-BOT. It will require a month’s training before going into service at the police headquarters. Eventually though, the plan is to also have more units also policing heavy traffic points in the city.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham said that with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Kerala Police are using robots which can help in information assistance, physical monitoring and several other functions. On KP-BOT, Manoj Abraham said that with Artificial Intelligence, the robot is capable of working smoothly with humans.
“With the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), we are seeing the advent of intelligent robots that can perform tasks such as information assistance, physical assistance, surveillance and so forth. With AI and a range of sensors collecting information of the environment, KP-bot is able to work alongside human beings seamlessly,” Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham said on the occasion.
Future Updates
There are also plans to eventually equip the robot with several other functionalities. The future upgrades planned for the robot are to equip it with additional sensors like metal, and IED detectors, thermal imaging, gas sensors and facial gesture recognition etc to address the safety and security aspects of human officers and work place. Through dynamic face recognition and Machine Learning (ML), they would help visitors to get the update of their petition during the second visit.
