It’s a vision of the future. In the Zhengzhou East Railways Station in Henan, China, a police robot rolls across the concourse, sniffing out trouble.
The E-Patrol Robot Sheriff can follow potential criminals or suspicious people using facial recognition and detect safety hazards such as fires.
The 1.6 metre tall robot uses a series of cameras to drive itself around, while identifying staff through their work passes, Mashable reported.
But it’s not the first police robot to patrol China’s transport hubs. Last year, AnBot, was introduced at Shenzhen International Airport.
According to People’s Daily, AnBot has an “electrically charged riot control tool”, which in layman’s terms is a taser.
It’s not known whether E-Patrol Robot Sheriff also has a taser. But it’s already making itself useful.
Economic Daily reported that the robot used its air monitoring and humidity sensors to locate a fire during its very first shift.