If anyone is in doubt as to what inclusion is, just look at the New York Police (NYPD) officers.
There are white, black and brown ones. Tall, short and average size. Thin, very strong and overweight, so much so that anyone wonders how they will do one of those chases in the movie type race.
The issue of volume does not matter, however, to be considered a good agent. “It will be a very valuable tool for law enforcement,” proclaimed the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who before being a politician was a police officer. He was referring to the latest signing, who has not left the academy. It comes from a technological workshop.
That it’s called K5 shouldn’t come as a surprise when Elon Musk gives his children the names he gives them, which look more like secret keys. Well, K5 is a slightly stylized version of the Robocop that Peter Weller gave life to in the 1987 film. The real version that has arrived on the streets of New York is a 1.6 meter tall and stocky figure. It weighs 181 kilos, although they say it’s all intelligence.
It is destined to patrol the underground, the Times Square subway, the heart of Manhattan, the greatest global showcase that exists, you know, the great crossroads jammed with tourists, beggars, cigarette sellers of joy, homeless and zombie prints because of fentanyl. The signing has been assigned the night shift and he hasn’t complained.
Some New Yorkers passing through this station, who coincided with the presentation, did not seem very happy with the K5 perch. There were those who compared it to an oversized version of R2-D2, the famous and friendly droid from the Star Wars film series. Others simply compared it to a garbage can on wheels.
It comes from California, from the laboratories of the manufacturer Knightscope, which describes it as a “fully autonomous outdoor security robot”.
The humanoid is armed with four cameras, it records video but does not capture audio. It won’t use facial recognition.
“We have an expensive network of cameras in the subway system and we add to that, we supplement it with a series of cameras that are not only a mobile device, but connect passengers immediately with assistance if they need it,” remarked Michael Kemper, head of the Police Department’s traffic division.
The number of daily users reaches four million, the limit after the pandemic and after a series of incidents of physical and armed attacks that made many afraid to travel. The crime rate tends to fall, but the number of violent assaults is still 50% higher than four years ago, before covid.
According to Adams, K5 is joining at a vital time, both for the fight against crime and because the mayor is also requiring municipal departments to cut their budgets by 5%. So the average wage (rent) cost of the Robocop is nine dollars an hour. “It’s below the minimum wage and without breaks to go to the toilet or eat,” he said as if the labor demands were a joke.
