Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions Inc (AITX)

[tw0122]

The Competition.. The security guard robots can move on slopes, but they cannot climb stairs. They are also unsuitable for use in spaces with high human traffic, so it would be more effective to deploy them in large sites or protected zones such as oil and chemical plants or military zones.

These robots are not cheap: You have to pay S$7,500 a month to rent them. This works out to S$10.40 an hour for using them round-the-clock.

Mr Toby Koh, group managing director of Ademco, said that the cost is not too much to ask, considering how companies are spending up to S$4,000 a month for one security officer clocking 12-hour shifts, or paying S$8,000 for two officers to cover 24 hours.

Apart from being able to feed a 360° view of its surroundings to a guard on duty, the S5 can record the licence-plate numbers of cars it encounters, as well as record activities for playback. One of its cameras is also a pan-tilt camera with a zooming function, so it can see farther than the human eye can. If suspicious activities are detected, then the guard may follow up to investigate.

Mr Koh told TODAY that three organisations have expressed interest in using the robots to complement their security systems at some 70 sites across Singapore, though he could not name them due to commercial sensitivities. He added that the companies are turning to this solution mainly to address high employee turnover and to free their existing guards from foot-patrol duties.