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Every year in the United States, just under 17 million drivers get pulled over by police for a traffic stop. Out of those 17 million traffic stops, 195 thousand drivers have had physical force used on them and almost 4,500 cops have been assaulted by the driver. Every year 89 civilians and 11 cops have been killed in a simple traffic stop.
In an attempt to decrease these ominous statistics a Californian man has designed a robot that will lower the risk of traffic stops by decreasing physical human interaction between the driver and the officer.
The GoBetween robot is an attachment installed to the side of a police patrol car. The robot is a rod that extends from the police car to a pulled over vehicle’s window. At the end of the rod the robot sports all the tools necessary for a cop to conduct a traffic stop, including a tablet screen, webcam, signature pad, and a printer that can print out tickets.
The robot does not carry any weapons, however the robot does retract a spiked bar in front of the pulled over vehicle’s front wheels. This is to ensure that the driver does not attempt to drive away from the police officer.
Policemag.com mentions that the robot’s inventor, Reuben Brewer, got his inspiration for the GoBetween robot by being sick of hearing of cops getting shot or hurt in traffic stops.
A video released by SRI International, a non-profit research organization, shows how the GoBetween robot will operate in a typical traffic stop scenario.
