Robots are better than humans at spotting someone. However, they tend to work in separation. And we all know being a security robot is of no good if it can’t share information about an intruder. So researchers from Cornell are developing a system that would enable robots to cooperate with other autonomous devices on identifying and tracking objects, allowing them to conduct surveillance as a single entity with many eyes.
Robot Teamwork
After identifying, each robot would send the imagery of the object to a central unit. The central unit could help recognizing an object by communicating with both other camera systems and the internet. By combining and comparing images, the group would follow objects and gather more information about them. It would provide them more data than it would if they did the entire task by themselves.
For example, a robot might track out a dubious person, whom the team could follow wherever they go. They could determine which cameras are necessary and where robots need to go to get a better view using a planning feature.
Albeit a lot of work is left to be done, it would likely be useful far more than just conducting surveillance. The project is backed by the US Office of Naval Research, with a hope that the Navy could use this technology to coordinate drones. So, just be ready to say goodbye to your privacy, as robots might soon start to follow your every move.
