A robot designed to fight crime and keep citizens safe in Westlake, Ohio, was unveiled earlier this week, much to the surprise of residents and shoppers.
The wheeled robot, described as being 420 pounds with 360-degree view, was revealed by Crocker Park, an open-air shopping center in Westlake, on Thursday.
"Meet S.A.M. Parker (Secret Agent Man) our new security guard at Crocker Park," a Facebook post by the development read.
In a press release, Crocker Park said the robot uses artificial intelligence and comes with an intercom button that is programmed to call security on duty when pressed.
Crocker Park homes a total of 2,000 residents as well as offices, restaurants and stores and the new robot is expected to patrol multiple sections within the area.
Newsweek has contacted Crocker Park via email for comment.
Locals spoke to Cleveland 19 News about the robot and remarked at the use of AI technology to keep people safe.
"I was surprised when we first walked up," shopper Colt Eberling said.
"I had no idea what it was until I started reading [the words on the robot], it's at least labeled nicely so you can kind of tell what's going on there but yeah that's what the kids said they thought it was a robot from Star Wars."
"As long as it's used in the right way everybody's talking about AI now but that's a good purpose, you don't use AI just to write papers for students," shopper Andrea Hubbard said.
"It was a bit off-putting I think I was just like okay, what is this? And then of course I read it, reading is fundamental and I'm like oh it's for our safety which is interesting now a robot is keeping us safe that is interesting to me," fellow shopper Ron Hubbard added.
In its press release, Crocker Park answered many of the expected questions surrounding the use of the robot as a security guard.
The robot uses a video camera and a thermal camera and is not designed to focus on any one individual specifically. It is intended to proactively seek out "anomalies that suggest criminal activity," such as people in restricted areas.
The machine is not armed and will not call the police, but can be used to contact on-duty security. The only people who have access to the live and recorded video streams are authorized individuals, and the data is encrypted and password-protected.
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