US researchers are working on a real-life RoboCop that would patrol the streets to combat crime. Disabled policemen or soldiers would control the PatrolBot from a remote location.
Using US military advances in telerobotics, a virtual reality helmet would allow the operator to see through the robot’s eyes.
Project head Jeremy Robbins says the robot will allow disabled police veterans to perform many, if not most, of the functions of a normal patrol officer.
“Telerobotics has already begun to make its way into the worlds of medicine, business and the military. Extending it into law enforcement is simply the natural progression,” Robbins says.
“These men and women joined the police and armed forces in order to serve their country, but now because of injury that ability has been diminished.”
“I don’t know how to fix a severed spine, but restoring that ability to serve, and specifically the ability to serve in law enforcement – that I think we can fix.”
How else might you help disabled people stay in their jobs?
