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Recon Scout Robot Gets New Job at Prison

by Engadget Staff on October 31, 2008 at 11:49 AM



You may remember this little dumbell-looking Recon Scout drone we saw last year, when it had just been implemented in the military. If you'll recall, the robot selflessly allows itself to be thrown into wild and unpredictable situations deemed "too risky" for people, then transmits grainy video back to an Operator Control Unit.

Well, it turns out that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was interested in this rugged bastion of self-sacrifice, too. The CDCR can apparently envision all kinds of nightmare scenarios in which prisoners have weapons and no human wants any part of it -- which is why they've agreed to a rental contract where they get ten devices and developer ReconRobotics gets feedback from the Department in exchange.

Seriously though, aren't there any jubilant tasks we could set this guy to? He's getting to be such a killjoy.

Tags: california department of corrections and rehabilitation, CaliforniaDepartmentOfCorrectionsAndRehabilitation, darpa, drone, jail, military, prison, prisoners, recon, recon robotics, recon scout, ReconRobotics, ReconScout, robot, robotics, security, surveillance, surveillance video, SurveillanceVideo

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