In India’s tech city, Bengaluru, disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon empower mannequins to fight crime, spot traffic offenders, fine drunk drivers and rein in criminals across the city, a top official said.
“We will soon have artificial eyes fixed in mannequins as cameras with a small AI-linked computing device inside them for facial recognition through a well-connected central server,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Bhaskar Rao, said. The mannequins, however, will not be permanent fixtures at a given place but operate in a hide-and-seek mode.
“The AI software will locate the culprits, tip off the police about the number of violations one has committed, count the traffic slips registered against the same vehicle, estimate the penalty amount and alert the police,” said Rao. On how futuristic dummies or connected police officers work, Rao said a drunk driver caught on M.G. Road in the city centre would be identified by the mannequin even at a far-away junction to relay information to the control room through facial recognition.
“A mannequin is an outer covering of the dummy police with its AI-powered heart for futuristic technologies. Sky is the limit for using AI and robotics in policing too,” Rao pointed out. Noting that global tech giants Google, Microsoft and Walmart, innovation centres and universities such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are in Bengaluru, the top cop said as the science capital, the city was the place to invent and innovate. As India’s Silicon Valley, the senior IPS officer said, Bengaluru was an ideal location for also pioneering modern police enforcement practices.
