An AI police robot designed to control traffic began its first day of duty on Monday, December 1. It operates on Binsheng Street in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Locals were impressed by the robot’s capabilities.
“I had barely crossed half a meter when he alerted me. He acted promptly,” a local told CCTV Video News Agency.
One motorcyclist finds the robot “pretty useful.”
“When you see it, you will unconsciously stop and subconsciously stop at the waiting line like that. I think it’s quite useful. It can reduce the cost of police personnel. I think it will be a trend in the future.” he explains.
The robot executes clear hand signals for “forward” and “stop”, whistles and identifies various violations of traffic rules, such as motorcyclists without helmets, vehicles stopped across the line or pedestrians crossing irregularly, giving polite audio warnings on the spot, writes National Thailand.
According to Zhang Wanzhe of the Binjiang Traffic Police Brigade, the robot’s gestures are trained directly after the real movements of the agents, and its artificial intelligence model is continuously improved by learning in real intersections.
It is also integrated with traffic light systems.
Since October, the robot has been tested at several intersections in Binjiang, and will later integrate large-language-model capabilities for voice interaction, directions, guidance and road education.
Hangzhou is also working on designing the next generation of traffic management robots and is exploring developing a full fleet of “robot cops”.
