RoboCop could become a reality as Florida International University is attempting to build a law enforcement robot that is controlled by disabled police officers. The researchers behind this at the university’s Discovery Lab are working together with a U.S Navy Reserve member to build the remote operated robot. This idea would allow disabled officers and military vets to get back into the work force by becoming patrol officers or responding to 911 calls, they could even write parking tickets should the project be a success.
The Navy Reserve member, one Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Robins, gave $20,000 to the lab and borrowed two $500,000 military grade robots from the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) in order to make this vision a reality. According to Robins, one of the biggest hurdles is making the robot intimidating enough for people to obey it but still approachable enough that a lost child would be comfortable asking it for help finding their mother. Hopefully, with tech like this used properly, streets could be made safer in the future, it’s not exactly RoboCop but then again maybe that not such a bad thing.
