Perth Voice Interactive

CRIMEFIGHTING robots used to patrol Singapore’s streets could be brought to Stirling under a plan by councillor Joe Ferrante.

In 2021 Singapore ran a short trial of four-wheeled robots named “Xavier” patrolling streets. They were armed with a 360-degree camera and a two-way communicator so human operators could remotely talk to nearby people.

Their video feeds were analysed by artificial intelligence to alert a human if they detected suspicious behaviour, and they were intended to focus on low-level malfeasance like smoking in prohibited areas, impro

per bicycle parking, scooters on footpaths, or flouting Covid-19 rules (which at the time included more than five people congregating in public).

Augment

In April 2023 Xavier bots were deployed at Changi airport to “augment” police on patrol, and in June the Singapore government announced they would progressively deploy more patrol bots across the city.

Stirling council pays for its own security patrols, but the program is expensive, and some locals still don’t feel safe. 

At the August 1 council meeting, Nollamara resident Daniela Ion told councillors that locals were observing a rise in break-ins and calling for more lighting to deter crooks.

“People from Nollamara, Balga, Yokine, Mount Lawley, and other suburbs are worried about the increase in the number of house and car [breaks-ins],” Ms Ion said. 

Later that meeting Cr Ferrante gave notice he’d move a motion that “robocops ‘Xavier patrol autonomous mobile robot units’ be assessed for a trial deployment in hotspots”. 

Councillors will vote on whether to investigate bringing the bots over at the next council meeting. 

Singapore’s trial prompted a small number of concerns from privacy activists.

“It all contributes to the sense people – need to watch what they say and what they do in Singapore to a far greater extent than they would in other countries,” said digital rights advocate Lee Ti Ying, quoted by Agence France-presse in 2021.

In San Francisco in 2017, private company Knightscope started hiring out its wheeled robot as a private security guard. A local organisation briefly rented the robo guard to patrol the footpaths outside their building. 

But many locals disliked the idea, believing the robot was brought in to stop homeless people from being on the footpath, and the robot was relentlessly bullied. 

After the robot was squirted with barbecue sauce, blinded by a tarpaulin, smeared with faeces, and shoved around, the trial was cut short.

by DAVID BELL