Meet the security robot patrolling an Atlanta neighborhood

A 5′3 tall, 420-pound, egg-shaped security officer has been walking a new beat in Atlanta.

Rolling, actually.

Known as a Knightscope K5 , the device patrols the Wingate City Lights apartment community in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Property managers hope the autonomous machine, which can record activity and report anything concerning to the Atlanta Police Department, will deter crime.

The devices, which the company says have been have been used in places like malls, hospitals, airports, casinos and across the country, feature 360-degree, high-definition cameras, microphones and thermal sensors. Detecting unusual swings in air temperatures could alert authorities to a fire or people loitering in unauthorized areas, notes Stacy Stephens, Knightscope’s executive vice president and chief client officer.

The K5 can identify both license plates and people, through facial recognition, and can use wireless signal detection to identify mobile devices, Stephens said.

A Las Vegas apartment complex once ranked in the top 10 complexes for 911 calls in that city implemented the robot in 2020. Within months the apartment manger and police department both noted a decrease in crime , according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Credit: Lexi Baker

It’s among the examples of high-tech security efforts in Atlanta. At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a robotic dog named Benzie patrols the area at night , piloted by a human driver.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The City Lights robot is one of two that services the complex, a senior living community in the 400 block of Boulevard, bought about a month ago.

“The robots will also have the ability to ... respond in an automated fashion,” said City Lights spokeswoman Sage Hoare.

Residents are still getting to know their mechanical neighbor.

Henry Evan thinks it will be beneficial and said that he sees the robot “rolling around here all of the time.”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced crime (here) before personally, but I definitely have been in a situation where, I’ve been in the house and I’ve heard stuff out here, or I hear about stuff when I’m out of town,” said Arturo Lamotta, a City Lights resident.

According to Atlanta police crime data analyzed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the stretch of Boulevard that runs through the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood has seen an average of 19 crimes committed involving a firearm, such as aggravated assaults and robbery, each year between 2021 and 2023.

The robot can also communicate, letting people know that a building is closed to the public, for example, said Stephens, who worked in law enforcement for more than 25 years before cofounding Knightscope.

“That (robot) is going to get the attention of somebody who’s out to do some harm, and they’re going to begin to second guess whatever their activities are,” Stephens said.

Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the ACLU, said that the robot is a “powerful bundle of surveillance technologies,” designed to deter criminals. But it also observes the activities of non-criminals, which might make some people uneasy, he said.

“I don’t know that Americans want to live in a world where there’s one of these on every block, but if there were, they could trace everywhere you are all the time,” Stanley said.

Even with the new robot, Lamotta said that human security guards have still been patrolling the block during the early morning and late evening hours. Stephens said the machines are meant to augment existing security efforts.

“You want the robots to do the boring, routine, monotonous ... work,” Stephens said. “You want the humans to do the strategic, hands-on, empathetic or sympathetic-type work.”

— Mandi Albright contributed to this article.

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