The robot Xavier patrols the streets of Singapore on September 8, 2021. PHOTO / Suhaimi Abdullah / NurPhoto
A new step in surveillance? For a few weeks, robots with 360-degree cameras patrolled the streets of Singapore and arrested passers-by, cyclists or vendors at fault. A pilot project that some see as a harbinger of new attacks on individual freedoms.
“Do you smoke in a no-go area? Do you get together with more than five? Beware of Xavier, who is on the lookout for such undesirable social behavior ’, warned Singaporean television channel Channel News Asia (CNA) on its website in early September. Xavier? A robot-policeman – in reality two robot-policemen – who roamed the streets of the city-state, during a three-week pilot project, “with a view to detecting these offenses but also street vendors, badly parked bicycles, scooters or motorcycles on sidewalks ”.
Perched on four wheels and traveling at 5 km / h, this robot has 360-degree cameras and “is able to see in the dark,” says The Straits Times. “In a matter of seconds, the images are transmitted to a command and control center, fed into a video analysis system programmed to recognize a man’s posture, the contours of a cigarette in his mouth and other visual signs. ” And then Xavier, in a synthetic voice, addresses the offender: “Please do not smoke in a prohibited area such as covered passages.” Police officers viewing the footage can also speak directly to the offenders through the robot, CNA adds. Xavier is not issuing any fines at this time.
“Paradise for consumerist authoritarianism”
In May 2020, Singapore had already experimented with a “robot dog” whose mission is to enforce safety distances in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Spot thus patrolled the parks, calling on walkers, in a female voice, to keep a certain distance between them, “for your safety and that of those around you”.
While Singaporean newspapers do not seem to be concerned about the possible arrival of this new means of surveillance, in India The Indian Express is sounding the alarm bells. The Bombay newspaper even devoted an editorial in early October to the arrival of this “Robocop” in this “paradise of consumerist authoritarianism” that is Singapore. He regrets that, “for many, there is nothing embarrassing about robots enforcing the rules.”
But the worst part about this surveillance system, The Indian Express points out, is not that it substitutes for the police and helps “catch offenders.”
It is, in fact, that he makes sure that people behave at all times as if they are being watched. “
In other words, “Robots like cameras and facial recognition software aren’t meant to make you afraid of the police. They are meant to put a policeman in your head. ”
