A school in New Mexico in United States has started a pilot programme in which a robot patrols the campus 24 hours a day and seven days a week. This comes in wake of rising incidents of shootings in school, several companies are now offering robots to the schools across the country, Wall Street Journal reported.
This robot in Santa Fe High School is learning the school's normal activities and spots individuals who are seen in the campus after hours or exhibit aggressive behaviour.
If there is an active shooter or other form of threat, the robot will alert the security team. The robot will move towards the intruder and transmit video footage to inform the law enforcement officers about the course of action. Although not armed, the robot is able to confront the intruders and the security team members can interact with the intruder through the machine's robot communication system.
The school has opted to disable the robot's weapon detection features during the pilot test. The security team is evaluating whether it can be added later, Santa Fe Public School's executive director of safety and security Mario Salbidrez told the website.
According to report, the robot does not have facial recognition features and the school owns its video footage. It means the school can decide whether or not to save it.
As of now, the robot has not spotted intruders on the campus, but has alerted security team to the new workers who are entering the school construction site and individuals trying to open locked doors in harmless bids to enter the buildings.
The cameras have also spotted faculty members waving to the cameras and students making peace signs. A student said she is unfazed by this robot and is unsure whether her peers will take the ‘additional surveillance’ seriously.
But a film studies teacher Reed Meschefske said he is feeling safe at the school without the surveillance measures. He feels that the robot can help cover blind spots at the large campus which go unnoticed.
{{/usCountry}}But a film studies teacher Reed Meschefske said he is feeling safe at the school without the surveillance measures. He feels that the robot can help cover blind spots at the large campus which go unnoticed.
{{/usCountry}}Several other districts are mulling robots in a security role, with a robotics firm co-owner Robert Stokes saying his firm is working with multiple districts across the country.
In most of the cases, schools will be using robots in the classroom to teach coding to the students. But in case there is an armed invasion, the robot can take more aggressive action like pointing a laser beam at the suspect's chest and ask them to drop the weapons.
The firm Team 1st Technologies is in charge of the robot pilot programme at the Sante Fe High Schooḷ. The cost for the 2023-24 academic year is estimated to be $60,000-70,000.