A few months back, the New York Police Department unveiled a new task force with the aim of fighting crime. While this sort of stuff isn’t particularly new – the team involved were definitely different from the norm. This is because it was a historic first, whereby the police force showed off crime-fighting robots.

In a move likened to the hit film Robocop, this included R2D2-lookalikes and robotic dogs that were capable of easily outrunning human beings. Unsurprisingly, this came as bad news for NYC criminals – while it also brought up a number of questions based on the morality of using robots to tackle criminality.

Back then, these robots were said to be hitting the streets in the summer. And, now several months later, the summer now here. And so are the robots.

Coming to a city near you, police robots are being used in New York City This summer in times square😳 pic.twitter.com/dRywudvK4x

— CHRIS (@Chis4truBot) June 26, 2023

Despite looking the part, not everyone was convinced – and one commenter on Twitter said: “Those things won’t last a month. They’ll all be destroyed and parted out online.” Elsewhere, others questioned their long-term legitimacy saying: “The first hour on the street, they will be covered in graffiti and could very well end up as scrap.”

Irrespective of public opinion, it will be interesting to see how these literal robocops get on. This could act as a defining moment for policing, or it could be rendered a gimmick. Only time will tell, but with the summer here – New York enters a new era with robot policing.