NYPD’s security robot roams Times Square subway station

Commuters caught a glimpse of the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Knightscope K5 Autonomous Security Robot at the Times Square subway station on Wednesday 22 November.

With a 360-degree camera placed on its head, the 420-pound robot is set up as a crime deterrent, and patrols with a two NYPD-officer escort from midnight to 6am.

Shaped like a penguin, the robot can’t go up and down stairs, but video from the cameras is streamed to the NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan.

K5 already acts as an extra set of eyes and a roving call box, and eventually, police will use it to respond to 911 calls inside the station and get “a closer look into what’s going on”.