Indore Becomes First City in India to Install a ‘Robocop’ for Traffic Management
The robot is installed on a five foot pedestal at the busy MR 9 intersection in the city and has been attracting a lot of attention for its futuristic appearance.
Robocop in Indore?
Yes, you read that right!
A pilot project comprising a 14-foot gigantic robot that will manage traffic was revealed in Indore on Monday.
Apart from rotating on its axis and having mobile arms that can produce hand signals, the robot has an inbuilt public address system and a Wi-Fi enabled camera that will be able to take snaps of traffic violators and generate e-challan.
This is probably the first time in the country that a robot has replaced humans in traffic management.
“It was a successful experiment, and the robot will stay there and manage traffic every day. We also have plans to put up such robots in other squares in Indore,” Hari Narayan Chari, Indore deputy inspector general of police (DIG) told Hindustan Times.
Already earning the ‘Robocop’ moniker, the robot is installed on a five foot pedestal at the busy MR 9 intersection in the city and has been attracting a lot of attention for its futuristic appearance.
The initiative could offer some respite to the many traffic police personnel who spend multiple hours of toil under the sun.
However, the project has also been at the receiving end. Owing to its appearance, a lot of motorists reportedly stopped in the middle of the square to gawk at the futuristic installation that seemed to have emerged out of nowhere. This only resulted in slower moving traffic, opposite to the intentions of the Robocop.
Many residents are however, irked by the Robocop. “Why people would abide by the instructions of a robot when they do not even listen to instructions of a cop. It appears to be not more than entertainment too”, Nandini Sunder, a resident told TOI.
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Another group is irritated by the fact that a cop was deployed at the square to keep an eye on the robot and thought that instead of the machine, the department should have deployed real cops in large numbers.
According to Hindustan Times, the project was undertaken confidentially by the city police in collaboration with the robotics department of the city-based Venkteshwar Institute of Technology.
Costing around ₹20 lakh, it took the faculty and final year students around two years to make the robot.
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