On Friday morning, in one of the empty shops of New York’s most crowded metro station, a police robot from NYPD was found motionless, collecting dust in a scene reminiscent of a sad Wall-E. This robot, known as Knightscope K5, ceased to monitor commuters’ movements in Times Square, marking the end of a short but significant era for safety technologies in the Big Apple.
The Knightscope K5, a 400-pound car that looks like a bulky relative of R2-D2, was part of a high-tech experiment promoted by mayor Eric Adams, known for his interest in technological innovations. Launched in a pilot phase last year with the aim of improving the safety of commuters, the robot has not yet proved to have actually useful capabilities in critical situations requiring immediate intervention. “The K5 Knightscope completed its trial period in the NYC subway system,” said a department spokesman at The New York Times.
Equipped with video recording cameras and a button through which people could contact a meat and bone operator, the K5 “pattugliato” the midnight station at 6 am during the two months of testing. However, the use of the term “pattugliato” could appear excessive, considering that the robot has no arms and cannot go up or down the stairs. The commuters told the Times that the robot was almost always accompanied by a couple of agents and that it was often connected to the current.
The cost of leasing of the K5 was about 9 dollars per hour, lower than the minimum wage, as underlined by Mayor Adams at the time of the launch of the robot in the Times Square station. “It doesn’t need bath breaks, nor lunch breaks,” Adams commented. Despite the initial concerns of privacy activists, who feared robot equipment with facial recognition tools and other surveillance technologies, the K5 will no longer be used for surveillance in NYC unless the city authorities decide to use it for other purposes.
The retreat of the K5 marks a step back in exploring futuristic security technologies for the city of New York, reflecting the complex challenges related to the implementation of automated solutions in densely populated urban contexts. While the Knightscope K5 experiment ends, the discussion remains open on how technology can be better used to ensure public safety effectively and ethically.
The article Goodbye to the Times Square Robot: Mayor Adams’ project failed from IlNewyorkese.
