Real-life RoboCop

Just look at the pictures. Imagine this hunting down criminals? Looks like something straight out of science fiction right? Well if U.S. firm Knightscope have their way, it could soon become a reality.

Known as the K5, this 1.5 metre tall (5 feet) cyborg is designed to keep the peace by autonomously patrolling public spaces. Using crowd sourcing, gesture, number plate and facial recognition and thermal imaging, this new machine could be the future of crime prevention.

Despite looking very scary, the K5 will not include any sort of weaponry. Instead it will be utilised to notify people of disturbances. For example, if a university purchased the K5, its primary function would be to patrol the campus and if it finds something such as a person or group who should not be on campus or an accident that needs attention, it will notify the security or emergency services.

The ‘bot will be aimed at large firms and companies and cost £1784 ($3000) on a per month subscription service.

A video of the K5 in action can be seen here

All Photos: ©Knightscope, Inc. 2014 (www.knightscope.com).