Robotic Security

Robotic Security Robotic Security Robotic SecurityA thief looks to one side, then the other, heftly maneuvers over a fence and darts to each window. He sees what hes looking for, and then? A security guard calls out, sirens flash and an alarm goes off. The thief freezes before realizing hes actually been busted - by a robot.Lakewood, CO-based startup Gamma 2 Robotics is behind RAMSEE, a five-foot, 200-pound security guard robotthat moves at top speeds of about 25 miles per hur with the help of a brushless motor.These robots can particularly help in dangerous situations, says Francis Govers III, chief robotics officer for the company. You dont want a human dealing with a fire or a thief with a gun if you can avoid it.At the top, RAMSEE has a swivel-head pan tilt unit on its head that has both a high-definition camera and an FLIR thermal camera. Its arranged so both cameras always point at the same target.With a self-driving mobile sensor platform, Gamma 2 robots can perform both auton omous patrols and human-guided activities. Image Gamma 2 RoboticsThe face allows two-way video conferencing and below that, 360-degree cameras run at near IR infrared, he says. You have infrared illuminators that the robot can see that people cant see. It also has LIDAR light detection and ranging for things like mapping, obstacle avoidance, and motion detection. And it uses sonars and infrared detectors to see small objects.Designers went through four sets of prototypes to get to this current model. They started with an existing robot platform and put in new computers and sensors and, in a next generation, switched to brushless motors away from a previous setup containing gear motors and pulley. For the third generation, we built a mockup of the inside of the robot with new chassis, new wheels, et cetera, says Govers.Inertial measurement units sense bounce and tilt and sensors can help it know stairs are coming, he adds.But the software is also a key component. The software is ROS and we have two internal processors that are both Linux based. One is ODROID-XU4. It has 8 CPUs. The other is Nvidia, which is our vision processor four regular cores and 130 GPUs. It was originally put it in because the thought was that it would be doing a lot of stereo vision but now its migrated into artificial intelligence and running our own program.Even though the robot can be put in harms way, he says the goal for the guard is to observe, report, and be a distraction. In the distraction role, it has very bright head lights, strobe lights like a police car, and that loud siren, he says. In the dark it would be quite intimidating and the synthesized voice doesnt sound robotic at all.Presently, they are working on improvements such as face recognition. The goal is to know who the workers are so they dont see them as intruders, he says. But the idea is to be able to tell if there are ex-workers who you want to make sure arent on the premises.Though a specific price point isnt bei ng shared at the moment, Govers says it will be under $100,000. Our hope is this can be a compliment to security plans already in place, he says. This robot has the ability to be a real friend to companies.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. For Further Discussion