PATROL ROBOTS

• Parking vehicles in no parking zones  

• Smoking in prohibited areas People ignoring traffic signals  

• Not maintaining social distance  

• Not wearing masks in public areas  

• We encounter such scenarios on a daily basis.  

• All these damaging social behaviors are dangerous and need strict monitoring.

•  Researchers in Singapore  found a better way to address citizens with such behaviour by using patrol robots named Xavier.  

• It is a high-profile demonstration of the act of shifting the burdens of policing from fallible humans to fallible machines, with a promise of cost savings in the process.
  
  
• The Xavier robot is an autonomous wheeled vehicle, with a camera array mounted on top. 
  
  
• It was built by Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), which is tasked with designing technology for national security and public safety.
  
  
• It looks for “undesirable social behaviours” like “smoking in prohibited areas, illegal hawking, improperly parked bicycles within HDB Hub, congregation of more than five people"
  
  
• Once it detects that activity, a Xavier robot will send an alert to a command and control center, where humans can make an appropriate decision.
  
  
•  In addition, the big tablet embedded in the front of the Xavier robot will display a message to the people who are presumably violating the law to try to “educate the public and deter such behaviors.”