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ORFO robot put on chaperon duty at Korean school
In a bit of a step down after serving as a security guard at last year's World Cup, the German-designed ORFO robot is now being put on what amounts to chaperon duty at a middle school in South Korea as part of a trial project, which could eventually see the robots keeping an eye on students across the country. As at the World Cup, the robot packs a camera and microphone to monitor its surroundings, and can either be manually controlled or programmed to follow a specific route using its built-in GPS. Unlike some other security bots, however, ORFO isn't able to directly intervene in problematic situations itself, with it only able to issue a warning that a human security guard is on the way. [Via The Register]
Robots on guard duty at World Cup
It seems that not all of our robot friends are lucky enough to be able to kick back and play a bit of soccer of their own in Germany this month. No, some are stuck with the lowly task of protecting us humans, with eleven Linux-based robots from Robowatch Technologies providing both indoor and outdoor surveillance at Berlin's Olympic Stadium every night until the final World Cup game on July 9th. The outdoor robots, known as ORFO, use GPS to patrol an area up to two kilometers away from the control center and pack thermal cameras able to detect intruders by their body heat. Alas, it appears they are unarmed -- which is probably for the best, you know, in the grand scheme of things. The indoor robots, dubbed MORSO, are deployed throughout the stadium, equipped with video cameras, radar sensors, temperature gauges, and infrared scanners able to detect movement or any changes to the stadium. The robots also use 3G technology to communicate with the control center and, presumably, to watch some TV on their breaks.
