A controversial security robot that had a short but well-publicized stint patrolling a NYC subway station appears to be headed back to work after months in storage room retirement — but details about the 5’2, 400-pound machine’s new gig remain in question.
The robot — known as K-5 — was first rolled out in 2023 to patrol the Times Square subway station for a two-month pilot program. City officials said the robot would be a deterrent to bad actors and would aid the NYPD with real-time surveillance data, but the robot was pulled from the platforms after the pilot ended.
Mayor Adams rekindled interest in K-5 Tuesday, when he said during his weekly press availability that the robot used by the NYPD has gotten a new assignment on a pilot basis. He not did to provide any specifics about the re-hired robot’s new job.
“We have it in a new assignment,” Adams said.
“Once it goes through the pilot, we’ll roll out exactly its new assignment,” he added.
Later Tuesday, however, Adams spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield walked back the mayor’s comments, saying K-5 is not currently deployed and there is no contract for the robot in place at the moment.
“We are, as the mayor made clear today, assessing next steps and determining how else it can be deployed,” she said.
What that deployment might be remains unclear.
Barry Williams for New York Daily News
A Knightscope K5 security robot is pictured at the Times Square subway station in September 2023. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
As previously reported by the Daily News, after being pulled from the Times square station patrol, the robot wound up sitting unused in a storage space for months even though it was being paid for as part of its six-month contract. The robot is manufactured by Knightscope, a security company whose website displays NYPD officers posing with the robot.
Knightscope rep Stacy Stephens directed The News to reach out to the city for more details.
Previously, the NYPD said it had no plans to redeploy the robot, according to a May report by the department’s Inspector General Office.
Earlier this year, Shane Ferro, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s digital forensics unit, called the robot a “useless surveillance mascot for Mayor Adams.”
“This is just an oversized surveillance rumba but I have yet to see Mayor Adams actually justify its usefulness,” Ferro said, adding that she had concerns about any “secret” use of the robot by the city.
With Rocco Parascandola
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