Hostage situations are often described like explosive devices, as ticking time bombs waiting to go off. And just as bomb disposal units have robots to help with their job, now police negotiators have a bot of their own for defusing a different kind of explosive situation.
In Colorado, a heavily armed 61-year-old man had barricaded himself in his home. Afraid that the volatile suspect would shoot anyone sent in to negotiate his surrender, the police found themselves at an impasse. Then, they sent in the robot.
The police equipped a bomb disposal robot with a microphone, a camera, and speakers, and maneuvered it into the house. An operator navigated the droid to the suspect, and then began to talk him down. Eventually, the man surrendered to the robot, and was taken into police custody.
Usually, when Murphy said "dead or alive, you're coming with me", the "alive" option rarely panned out. This robocop, however, already seems to be getting better results.
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Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?
And WALL-E saves the day! lol
Nice to see a police robot being used for more constructive purposes than simply blowing things up (although it can be fun to watch).
Hats off to the ingenious policemen who rigged up their bot, both for their negotiating and their engineering skills!
i wish i had one of those. then i could drive it around into
a crowd and go "attention! my master, the CYBORG, has just declared all of you to be his slaves! thank you." then everyone would freak out and oh gosh.
Would be better to have pistol inside with an X targeting overlay on the bots camera for easy targeting....plus swivel, up down head
I could make that with some duct tape, a soldering iron, pistol, wi-fi cam and RC tank :P...all of which I have...dont even need any extra programing etc. any redneck could do it
it could save the day more effectively, since wats the point of talking to loonatic....whichever way...he'll either be shot or go jail for life....which will e choose? I bet:
kill the hostages and then himself...or by the police...whichever comes first
go figure....DIY