A sight previously thought to be science fiction is very real at a southeast Kansas City shopping center. Instead of a police officer, a security robot has been patrolling sidewalks and shoppers are taking notice.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19944734

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A sight previously thought to be science fiction is very real at a southeast Kansas City shopping center. Instead of a police officer, a security robot has been patrolling sidewalks and shoppers are taking notice.

Since Marshall the robot has been on the job, shoppers say the experiences have completely changed when they come to these stores. The robot can spend 23 hours a day monitoring the parking lot from all angles which gives people a new sense of protection and ease they don’t always have when out.

Marshall took over security at Brywood Centre in April. Before that, Karen White noticed a lot of trouble outside the shopping center.

“Sometimes it’d be concerning for your car like someone could take it or something,” White said.

Knowing now that Marshall is always watching, the risk of crime does not worry her or others as much.

“It made it very better, like you can’t be in the parking lot without seeing the robot,” White continued. “So, I think it scared them off.”

  • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
    21·
    3 months ago

    One of these hit my car. It was out patrolling randomly in a parking lot and I pulled up to get a better look at it. I stopped like 6 ft in front of it but it just kept on coming and ran into my fucking car.

    • Murdoc@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      14·
      3 months ago

      “You are illegally parked on private property. You have twenty seconds to move your vehicle.” -ED-209

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
    151·
    3 months ago

    First of all if you’re too scared to go into a store because you think your car is going to be robbed You’re probably too scared to live in public. However from the description it sounds like this thing’s just a tall camera? It can’t do anything except monitor? So how is this any better than those towers with cameras on them?

    • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
      2·
      3 months ago

      Psychology. Ever see ring doorbell footage where the owner says “drop the package” and people do? Its not like the owner could do anything, but for some reason it makes people behave differently.

    • anarcho_blinkenist@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      exactly my thought

      people consumed all these dystopian movies and thought “what a great rubric for society!” we’re so fucked lol. These death machines (like drones and such) are also where the most work and funding go for machine learning and AI research too. What could go wroooong

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    105·
    3 months ago

    I live under a rock and don’t get out much due to physical disability, but I don’t see a security improvement. I see a data mining monstrosity and further reason to avoid local retail.

    • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world
      6·
      3 months ago

      Avoid local retail in favor of what, a website? If you’re concerned about the data mining potential of this robot rolling around a strip mall then you should avoid the internet at all costs.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      It’s a roving mobile camera. It doesn’t get distracted easily or bored or tired and isn’t apathetic and It doesn’t hate its job. Criminals don’t want to be filmed doing their crime.

      Normally if you are not actively doing anything provably wrong the mall cops will just kick you out, this thing is going to provide evidence to the actual police.

      But I have to admit any significant security advantages that it provides are going to be short-lived while the thieves just change their plan. They’ll just have to be faster and more aware of where this thing is, or do a better job of hiding their face.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        1·
        3 months ago

        It’s gotta be pretty easy to disable.

        Wear a mask and gloves, walk up with what, a stun gun and give it a nice jolt. Or just throw a wire mesh bag over it.

        Other similar bots have been pushed into fountains.

        • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          Yeah taking it out of the picture isn’t the problem but that starts the timer. The thing’s being remotely monitored and that would bring the police

          Ideally the criminals want to loiter. Look for targets.

          I strongly suspect if you were able to get enough tagged data for shoppers versus Nair do wells, purely from video surveillance footage you could target potential thieves based on location of movement characteristics.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    61·
    3 months ago

    “Sometimes it’d be concerning for your car like someone could take it or something,” White said.

    Wow, that couldn’t be a better sentence to highlight the layers of meaning in that comment.

  • Mwa@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    3 months ago

    Imagine it had guns and tasers its gonna end horribly