Dubai Police will be turning to use “robo-cops” in the next few years. According to the Chief Information Officer and General Director of the Dubai Police HQ Smart Services Department, the move — which is part of the lead up to Expo 2020 — is aimed at helping the police deal with an ever-increasing populace. Colonel Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi said that in the next two years robots will be used to bolster police forces patrolling malls and other public areas.”The robots will interact directly with people and tourists,” he said. “They will include an interactive screen and microphone connected to the Dubai Police call centres. People will be able to ask questions and make complaints, but they will also have fun interacting with the robots.”
In four or five years, however, Alrazooqi said that Dubai Police will be able to field autonomous robots that require no input from human controllers. “These will be fully intelligent robots that can interact with people, with no human intervention at all,” he said. “This is still under research and development, but we are planning on it.”
Alrazooqi said that the robots — part of Dubai’s Smart City Initiative — might provide a way of expanding police coverage to deal with the massive influx of people expected in Dubai for Expo 2020. “We are aiming to provide these kinds of services as the population is expanding,” he said. “This way we can provide better services without hiring more people.”
