Another First: Dubai Welcomes First Robotic Officer to Police Force
By Colby Cyrus/Contributing Writer
In addition to the world’s largest tower and increasing tourist population, Dubai now has something else to add to its résumé: the world’s first robotic police officer. Projections indicate that robotic cops will make up 25 percent of the Dubai police force by 2030.
The development of Dubai’s robocop reflects the city’s desire to achieve a rapidly advanced and smarter police force. “We planned for a security system for the future of the city to tackle future crimes. By 2025, Dubai will be one of the best five cities in the world on the security level,” said Brigadier Abdullah Bin Sultan.
While the new officer does not possess the capabilities to make arrests, it can nonetheless assist citizens with reporting crimes, and hosts a database of wanted suspects whom it is equipped to seek out. It also has the ability to read an individual’s facial expression and can converse in six languages.
The addition of robocop to the police force illustrates an increasingly advanced society within Dubai, a city already boasting sports cars as police vehicles among other technological innovations.
Is robocop the future? One could assume that, given these new additions will never call in sick or ask for vacation time, they will likely be a popular alternative to human law enforcement in the (possibly very near) future.
One thing is for sure: we can expect robocop to uphold the same general principles of kindness and helpfulness that is promoted by the human law enforcement agencies in this very diverse city.