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Who owns Knightscope? NYPD rents security robot for '$9 per hour' to patrol Times Square subway station

NYPD has deployed the surveillance robot to monitor the Times Square subway station over the holidays

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: New York City is now considering using AI-driven security robots by Knightscope, co-founded by William Santana Li and Stacy Stephens, to potentially guard subway stations - an addition to drones and robot dogs already used by the NYPD.

In a pilot run, Mayor Eric Adams launched the leased Knightscope K5 Night Security Robot in Times Square on Friday, September 22. It will monitor the Times Square subway station at night for a two-month trial period, as per CBS News.

Mayor Adams remarked, "We’re committed to exploring innovative tools to continue to make this city the safest big city in America, and this robot K5, it has the potential to serve as an important tool in our toolbox."

Mayor Adams earlier addressed the issue of a reduction in law enforcement officers, which eventually led to the authorities opting to request the robot's assistance.

"For the first two weeks, it will be trained to map out the station. It will move around the main station area and not on the platform," Adams added.

As per New York Post, officials stated back in April when the police agency introduced its new robotic ranks that the machine was rented by the NYPD for six months for $12,500 using forfeited cash.

According to police officials, Knightscope K5 will continuously record video while it patrols but not audio.

Officials additionally stated that while crime has been decreasing on the subway for some years, recent underground attacks have raised significant concerns.

Knightscope was launched in April 2013

In response to the horrific massacres at Sandy Hook, the bombs in Boston, and the 9/11 attacks, William Santana Li and Stacy Dean Stephens co-founded Knightscope in April 2013.

Knightscope is a Silicon Valley-based provider of cutting-edge security technology that creates fully self-driving security robots that dissuade detect, and report. The goal of Knightscope is to make the United States the safest nation in the world, per the official website.

NYPD is renting Knightscope K5 security robot for $9 per hour

For the next two months, the city will be renting the robot for $9 per hour.

Mayor Adams bragged during the robot launch, "$9 an hour… $9 an hour. I know you wanted to write how we're wasting money, but I'm sorry I'm taking your thunder away. We're leasing at $9 an hour," per NBC New York.

The over 400-pound robot will work an 18-hour shift beginning at 6 am, acting as a mobile surveillance system and recording footage with its 360 HD camera for police to evaluate after a crime.

The robot will be followed through the station by officers who have been trained to use K5. However, the robot won't be standing on the platforms.

According to Adams, the robot's effectiveness will be evaluated after the trial program is over, and the city will choose how best to deploy it.

Features of Knightscope K5 security robot

The heads of the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) and NYPD stated that the gleaming new camera on wheels is part of a test initiative that will last for two months.

The bot does have a license plate reader, but according to Adams, it lacks real-time facial recognition technology. Any video that is gathered will also "adhere to the same guidelines as that any other technology in the NYPD’s current toolbox."

A button for calling the police, as well as a large number of microphones, are also included on the K5 Autonomous Security Robot.

As with any other surveillance footage gathered by the police, police protocol would permit officers to run prospective criminal suspect photographs from the droid's video recording through its facial recognition system.

According to City Hall, the K5 security robot began its first shift on September 22 night and would lay out the station for two weeks before beginning to patrol.

The bot has a rather shady history of duty thus far and will be stationed in the main station area rather than on the platform. In California, it drove over a child's foot back in 2016.

Adams repeatedly emphasized that running the bot would cost $9 per hour, but it was unexplained how City Hall arrived at that figure.

Michael Kemper, the NYPD Chief of Transit, issued a warning to would-be vandals that breaking or destroying the rented bot might result in an arrest.