Meet the possible future of Chinese law enforcement—the AnBot. This concept robot was developed by China’s National Defense University. It was unveiled last month at the Chongqing Hi-Tech Fair.
Soon, all Chinese people can enjoy the ‘round-the-clock surveillance that was once reserved only for dissidents and human rights lawyers.
Now I know it looks suspiciously like a cross between a Dalek from Doctor Who and an a giant Tamagotchi. But don’t worry! The AnBots won’t get sick if you forget to clean up after them. And they aren’t bent on exterminating all inferior species. Just people with inferior political views.
No, just kidding. They’re not here to kill you. Yet. They’re still just in the concept phase.
According to state-run People’s Daily, the main purpose of the AnBot is to “help with police officers’ anti-riot missions.” And to do that, it comes equipped with a helpful “electrical anti-riot device.” And if you think you can out run it, well, it can travel at speeds up to 11 miles per hour. You can always find a staircase.
The AnBot is designed mainly for patrolling, which it can do autonomously—as in, it will roam around on its own, unless someone specifically controls it remotely. And it can watch and listen to anything around it, so keep those subversive thoughts to yourself.
But before you think, “I can’t believe China would deploy robot police on an unsuspecting populace,” well, the AnBot...looks suspiciously like a Chinese knockoff of the American K-5—an unarmed robot police unit developed two years ago in Silicon Valley.
But for now, this is all just theoretical. Techies showing off their prototypes.
But if they were ever deployed in China, well, watch out. Because if this happens again, the tank driver bots won’t be programmed to stop.
So how do you feel about the impending future where robots become the police? Leave your comments below.
