“As we’re almost done with creating its key operating system, we are now working on refining its details to make it look more friendly to inmates.”
—Professor Lee Baik-Chu of Kyonggi University, on the Asian Forum for Corrections' plans to begin a month-long trial deployment of four-wheeled, 5-foot-tall mobile surveillance robots in a prison in Pohang, South Korea in March. The robots "will feature cameras as well as different kinds of sensors to help them in their primary task, that is to detect risky behaviour including violence and suicide." But don't worry. "The robot is not a security guard. His work is not to stop the violence in prison," says professor Lee Good-Chul of the Corrections Forum. "They are just helpers." [Via]