Ensuring safety in schools is a constant concern of staff and parents of students. In a number of American schools, security robots equipped with AI are being tested, which will move around the educational institution around the clock in search of unwanted visitors.

Santa Fe High School in New Mexico is one of the first to test a new autonomous robot from the supplier Team 1st Technologies from Albuquerque, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.

A four-wheeled robot developed by SMP Robotics, weighing 182 kg and 178 cm tall, with the help of a camera on the mast, provides 360-degree video for the school security service. The robot uses AI to study various characteristics of the school, including its layout and the nature of the activity of people around it.

The robot can recognize aggressive or unusual behavior and head towards the alleged intruder, letting him know that he is being watched, and buying time for the security service to respond. Despite some concerns of the local community about privacy, the robot does not have a facial recognition function, and as part of the current experimental program, Santa Fe High School employees are responsible for processing the footage, who decide how long to store it.

One of the teachers of the school told the WSJ that the robot, which he called the "seven camera dog" (a dog with seven cameras), can be useful for monitoring isolated areas of the campus that are not given due attention by the school security service.

Team 1st Technologies provides robots based on the RaaS (robot-as-a-service) model, but does not disclose the specific cost. According to some reports, it can be $60-70 thousand for the entire academic year, so the school management is still deciding whether the robot is worth such investments.

Team 1st Technologies is among the companies implementing security robots in schools, and if the 60-day experiment at Santa Fe High School proves successful, then in the near future such robots may be deployed in other schools.