Montgomery County testing use of security robot to monitor parking garage
Montgomery County Department of Transportation enlisting a robot to monitor the Town Square Parking Garage in Silver Spring
Expected to be operational soon, county still programming the robot, named "Parker"
Costs roughly $100,000 and if it's a success, they could expand to other garages
WASHINGTON - The California-based company Knightscope designs autonomous robots that help patrol commercial and public properties.
A mobile surveillance tool
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has enlisted a robot to help patrol the Town Square Garage off Ellsworth Avenue in downtown Silver Spring.
A transportation official told FOX 5 the robot, named Parker, is still being programmed and they expect to make it operational in the coming weeks.
The official says the cost is around $100,000. The plan for now is to have it patrol for a year in the Town Square garage and then potentially expand the program to other garages.
How it works
Parker is equipped with 360-degree cameras. Those cameras can store footage for 30 days. They can also be equipped with License Plate Readers. If, for example, a stolen car was parked in the garage, Parker could alert police.
Parker is not replacing any security staff, but is an addition.
If a crime were to happen and police responded, they could check to see if Parker gathered any information on a suspect or vehicle that was involved to aid in the investigation.
It patrols the garage without hitting any vehicles, going from floor to floor within the garage.
What they're saying
"When I first looked at it, the first thing I thought was Robo-Cop. Where they had the policemen walking around and did away with the cops," said Bob Garrison, who was struck by the technology.
Parker also has strobe lights, sirens, and if someone is in distress, there's a button on Parker they can push which would call police.
"I feel comfort. I feel comfort there. As a matter of fact, my car was sort of vandalized recently, so I appreciate the safety. The stepped up safety measures. I just hope the neighborhood folks that we can receive full transparency from A to Z on what this machine is going to be doing," said Gabrielle Dubose, a Silver Spring resident.
Not all garage parkers were quite on board with Parker the robot.
"Like, what's it going to do. It's not going to run up on somebody, it's just going to take pictures of it, and it's not really helping people," said Nicholas Layke, who expressed skepticism of Parker.
We expect a formal announcement in the coming weeks of when Parker will be operational and how exactly he'll be used.
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