Are Daleks The Security Guards Of The Future?

The K5 Autonomous Data Machine is described as the security guard of the future. The robots, which look like a cross between a Dalek from Dr. Who and EVE from Wall-E, was created by the California-based startup company called Knightscope.

The K5 was created to replace security guards in different settings such as schools and offices. It was unveiled this year and now, the five-foot 300-pound shiny robot is being used as a security guard in Building 1 of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus, Mashable reports.

The robots were created with a bunch of features, including sensors for temperature, sound, movement, barometric pressure, and carbon dioxide levels. It also has odor detectors and a scanner that can read 300 car plates in just a minute. It is capable of monitoring large areas and can detect dubious behavior. After patrolling a certain area, the robot will then report back to its base of operations. Though the Dalek security guard does not carry any weapons, it can emit an alarm and ask for human backup.

Stacy Stephens, vice president of sales and cofounder of Knightscope, explained the K5 further.

“This takes away the monotonous and sometimes dangerous work, and leaves the strategic work to law enforcement or private security, depending on the application.”

International Business Times reports that the K5 is able to work without human control and can analyze information given from social media, business, and government sources to be able to predict the probability of a crime being committed in a certain location.

So far, seven Dalek security guards have been built and four of them have been sent to Microsoft’s campus to test how they work. Stephens said that Knightscope wants to roll out these robots and get them to work by early next year.

Just like humans, the K5 works on wages and is not bought. Each robot has an hourly wage of $6.25, which is half the hourly salary of security guards. Although the robot cannot fully replace human security guards at the moment, Knightscope hopes that the lower salary will be attractive for businesses and schools to at least try them out.

According to Stephens, about a dozen clients are already interested in the Dalek security guards but they will still be working on technological tweaks that will make them stand the test of time. Another aspect that needs tweaking is the robot’s balance, as one of the challenges it faces now are steps and staircases.

[Images via Knightscope]