Friday, April 06, 2007

Patrolbot

As technology improves by leaps and bouinds, the world is seen to move into a new era where robotics is becoming a very huge part of our lives, from education to entertainment and especially security and surveillance. Scores of companies are going into the field of inventing robots for security. One such company is MobileRobots Incorporated,formally known as ActivMedia.MobileRobots Incorporated has come up with a programmable autonomous general purpose robot named PatrolBot. PatrolBot is a versatile robot that moves on wheels and will be able to do the following tasks. It will be able to tighten the security of premises and valuables, monitor potential hazards to a particular site and document problems not visible to normal security cameras. Patrolbot can be controlled remotely from a computer or it can be programmed to follow a pre-determined route. Patrolbot also has robotic visual sensors and cameras that will enable it to read from dials 20 feet away. It also has a microphone and speaker system that will enable the Patrolbot to communicate with a person. Hence, in this way the controller will not be put in harms way. The Patrolbot will also be able to pick up small objects and deliver them to locations as specified by the controller. Patrolbot is a novel innovation and it helps us alleviate the need to train security personnel for a specific job. All that needs to be done is to reprogram the software for a particular task. Moreover, a robot doesn’t suffer from fatigue as humans do and hence Patrolbot will be more efficient than human security personnel. Reference: 1.http://www.mobilerobots.com/PatrolBot.html 2.http://www.activrobots.com/BldgPropty/patrolbot.html Sivagami A U037814E

5 comments:

dars.security said...

Hello Rajalakshmi,

You are right, whether this robot can defend itself is a question mark. However, it it my impresion that it has been built more for patrolling and surveillance. The senarios it could face are not that 'dangerous' where it might be under attack(like in a war situation).

Nonetheless, these machines are destructable and i dont think anything can replace a human's presence.

With the rapid advent of robotics and AI, it looks like humans are dependant more and more on robots for even menial household chores. Even though robots seem to work more efficiently, it is my belief that nothing can replace a human. I think human can work as efficiently too. The human potential can be stretched to surprising limits, and the invention of robots may just stop humans from even trying to maximise their full potential. I think this might be the downside, in general, to robotics.

Home said...

For a robot to replace human for security I think there is still a long way to go. Although Patrolbot has quite a number of capabilities, I guess the common disadvantage of such wheeled locomotion robot is that it does not have the ability to move up and down stairs.

Nevertheless, the developments and research in robotics in recent years had shown that nothing is almost impossible. It is not surprising that one day the humanoid robot seen in the movie iRobot would no long be a fantasy.

Ng Buck Sin
U046233B

dars.security said...

It'd be interesting to see if this sells better pitched as a mobile security camera or as a robotic security guard. A mobile security camera is a very useful thing. No one could replicate a security guard yet. Despite this, it might (unfortunately) interest more people if they inflate its functions to the robot we read about in science fiction.

dars.security said...

April 14, 2007 1:27 PM comment by Kevin Brown NT0601428

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