An Atlanta apartment has innovative security walking among its premises. An AI-powered, crimefighting dog hopes to increase safety and deter crime.
Named “Beth,” the robotic dog will roam the area surrounding Atlanta’s 445 Cleveland Apartment complex. While shaped like an animal, it comes stocked with 360-degree cameras, a siren, and the ability to climb stairs. The apartment partnered with the City of Atlanta to test Beth’s performance and safety provisions.
City Councilman Antonio Lewis helped bring the initiative to life. Residents will also see multiple Beths patrolling the complex. He calls it a “reimagining” of protecting one’s neighborhood to assist better, not replace, police officers.
“There are multiple Beths, so you’re always gonna feel like Beth is everywhere,” Lewis said. “What we did before didn’t work. We cannot lock our way out of this. This is reimagining public safety, using the technology and tools that are available to us.”
However, Beth is not the first robotic dog to take to the Atlanta streets. The difference lies in its “owner,” who is a human operator based in Bogota, Colombia. The apartment’s owner, Avi Wolf, explained how the system works, allowing Beth to travel anywhere on the property in one minute.
“Our operator who is physically watching these cameras needs to deploy the dog. It’s all in one system, and they are just controlling it, like a video game at home, except it’s not a video game—it’s Beth,” detailed Wolf.
While technologically advanced, Beth is cost-effective. Wolf also revealed that her system costs one-third the cost of other AI-powered machines. Thus far, residents feel hopeful about the potential safety benefits.
Furthermore, Beth’s presence hopes to persuade potential troublemakers to take another route. Lewis believes that the dogs, expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, will decrease violence and crime.
“My goal is that young folks see Beth and say, ‘I want to go get a job. I can’t do what I was doing,’” expressed the elected official.
Beth is still a Georgia-bred machine, with Atlanta software company Undaunted developing the software that led to her creation.
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