Santa Fe High School is First in US to Deploy Security Robot
Santa Fe NM June 20 2023 A school in New Mexico started using a new security robot Tuesday in an effort to try different ways to keep students safe.
KRQE reported that Santa Fe Public Schools is the first district in the United States to use the technology, which is fully autonomous and has seven cameras.
The robot made its first appearance at a graduation ceremony at the end of May and it’s now making patrols around the Santa Fe High campus.
“The robot is going to be a complement to the security system we already have in place,” Mario Salbidrez, Executive Director for Santa Fe Public Schools Safety and Security, told KRQE.
“As you know sometimes we’re limited on human resources to be out and they also need breaks and lunches and so forth so the robots are going to help us supplement the downtime for our regular staff.”
The robot was designed by Team 1st Technologies in Albuquerque to patrol places which are harder for people to watch and offer a view into any potentially dangerous situations.
The school is running a 60-day pilot program and will then decide after that whether to carry on and invest in a second device.
It uses artificial intelligence to learn the layout of the campus and how to move around it, as well as how to interact with students, staff, and strangers on school grounds.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that “just over 200 emergency calls stemmed from Santa Fe High from August 2022 to May 2023” and that the robot is part of an effort to tackle concerns, including gun violence, drugs, and welfare concerns.
Santa Fe Public Schools runs its own security team in-house, working with police and other emergency services where necessary.
