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What does it take to keep a county of fewer than 400,000 people safe? For one North Carolina district, the answer to that question includes at least one humanoid robot.
In an interview with local station WXII 12, Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough introduced his department’s newest toy: a Unitree G1. Introduced as part of a collaboration with the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts and Center for Design Innovation, the robo-deputy is meant to stand-in for human cops during intense standoffs.
“We can send the humanoid into that same situation and accomplish the same thing: hostage negotiations, breach the door, go inside the house, do all the talking and recording,” Kimbrough told reporters during a live demonstration of the G1. “I can program it to do whatever I want it to do, hit buttons. As you saw, it started fighting, started dancing, and it talks. Any motion I want it to do, I can program it to do,” he continued — though it’s worth noting that latter statement isn’t strictly true.
Back in the real world, it’s hard to imagine these robots could write up a speeding ticket, let alone diffuse a fast-developing hostage situation. As technology goes, humanoid robots are incredibly young, with plenty of weak points both in fine motor functions and in AI language processing.
During the New York Knicks playoffs, for example, a Unitree G1 — the very same robot Sheriff Kimbrough is unleashing on his town — operated as part of a promotional stunt by the betting platform Kalshi went off the rails during a simple conversation.
“Knicks in five or what?” a bystander asks the unit. “Knicks in five, Knicks in five, Knicks in five,” the robot hollers back, before screaming “f**k Trae Young, f**k Trae Young, f**k Trae Young,” denigrating the one-time Knicks villain in front of two children.
“I’m wilding!” the robot exclaims, a digression we assume wouldn’t be much help in a hostage crisis. “You are wilding, there’s kids right there,” the bystander scolds as the G1 saunters off. “Watch your mouth.”
Whether the sheriff’s department actually needs a dedicated crime-fighting robot is another question. As far as we can tell, the most recent hostage situation in Forsyth County came in May of 2023, where a man allegedly held his significant other against their will after assaulting police.
That incident ended swiftly when police killed the man. Where exactly a humanoid robot is supposed to slot into a situation like that is difficult to say — but at this rate, we’ll probably see the situation play out in practice sooner rather than later.
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