Prosegur, Knightscope add facial recognition to physical security robots

Two companies in the biometric security space unveiled new tools, with Prosegur Security debuting a robot dog with facial recognition technology and Knightscope introducing automatic criminal detection capabilities (ACDC) to two of its security products.

Prosegur Security’s robot dog supports video analytics

The physical and digital security vendor Prosegur Security has added biometric robot dog Yellow to its private and professional security offerings for perimeter patrol.

Based on Prosegur’s GenzAI platform, Yellow features facial recognition capabilities and can reportedly differentiate “friend or foe” and alert security of potential threats via 5G connectivity.

Thanks to its sensors, it can also detect changes in temperature and gas, which might indicate a gas leak or fire.

“By leveraging our GenzAI platform, state-of-the-art machine learning, communication, smart cameras and video analytics, Yellow can detect security threats, relay information to the SOC and on-site security to quickly respond and neutralize any danger,” comments Prosegur CTO Mike Dunn.

Further, Yellow also integrates technology from Prosegur partner Azena, a German software startup funded by the Bosch Group and focusing on artificial intelligence (AI)-based video analytics.

“Innovation is at the forefront of all we do at Azena, and now AI-enabled video analytics can be leveraged in more sectors than ever before to improve safety, security and operational efficiency,” explains Azena CEO Hartmut Schaper.

“We are proud to be working in partnership with Prosegur Security to augment human response by employing sophisticated detection technology.”

Prosegur’s robot dog, first showcased at Rock in Rio Lisbon 2022 and the Mutua Madrid Open, will be officially unveiled in the U.S. at the Global Security Exchange (GSX) event in Atlanta, GA, next week.

The news comes weeks after Prosegur unveiled a new responsible AI policy and hired a chief ethics officer.

Knightscope adds criminal ID feature to security robot

Autonomous biometric surveillance robot producer Knightscope has added a criminal identification feature to its security products K1 Tower and upcoming K1 Hemisphere entry point device (due for release by the end of the year).

The technology reportedly utilizes facial recognition technology and a legal open-source database of more than 75 million criminal law enforcement files to alert users to a person previously convicted of a crime or possible threats on their property.

IPVM has released a report (subscription required and recommended) about the database of images Knightscope has collected. The database supplier is Captis Intelligence, and the trade publication raises privacy concerns and makes comparisons to the database composition of other facial recognition providers.

As for the new ACDC feature, Knightscope said intelligence gathered through it will aid public safety officials to better prepare for threats by delivering real-time, hyper-local information for improved situational awareness.

“[We are] continually evaluating ways in which we can deter, detect and report potential criminal activity,” says Knightscope CEO William Santana Li.

“Imagine if we were to assist one port in identifying a known terrorist or help warn officials of a sexual predator on your child’s school campus—this is truly a game changer in protecting the places we live, work, study, and visit.”

Further, clients will be able to assemble the data in incident investigations via the Knightscope Security Operations Center (KSOC) user interface or by talking to Knightscope+ monitoring professionals.

“We need to provide our nation’s 2+ million law enforcement and security professionals actual tools for them to be able to do their jobs effectively to keep our communities safe,” Li adds.

“We would never dare treat a soldier in this manner of being charged to secure a country with a technological equivalent of a #2 pencil and a notepad we see today on our streets.”

Knightscope has also recently reported substantial investment gains and a new Fortune 500 client.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Captis Intelligence  |  criminal ID  |  facial recognition  |  IPVM  |  Knightscope  |  Prosegur Security  |  robots