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Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China

China has introduced a revolutionary spherical police robot equipped with AI, capable of autonomous operation. Unlike Western models focused on surveillance, this robot actively pursues criminals.

I saw this story about the Rotundus security robot prototype about a month ago, but I couldn't quite think of what it reminded me of. Thanks to an alert reader, I've got it! The Rovers from the late 1960's sci-fi television series The Prisoner were security balls of various sizes.

(The Rover seeks its prey)

In the television show, the Rovers were living creatures modeled to some extent on blowfish. They could alter their size and were equipped with toxins that could incapacitate prisoners who tried to escape (they would give chase to the fastest moving living creature). They could run faster than a man, just like the Rotundus robot. They also served as eyes and ears for the Village monitors. They were adapted for different environments, including undersea use.

Also, in the early 1980's supermacromation series The Terrahawks, spherical robots called Zeroids were used to fight the evil witch-like alien Zelda.

(Sargeant Major Zero and Zeroid 18)

The Rotundus robot could also be considered a land-based version of copseyes, a spherical security robot introduced by science fiction writer Larry Niven in his 1972 story Cloak of Anarchy. Copseyes were golden spheres that floated off the ground; they had security cameras and stunners to spot and stop rule-breakers (repectively). (Update 19-Nov-2006: See also the Robot Probes (Arr-twos) from Niven and Pournelle's 1981 novel Oath of Fealty.)

See also the proxy robot from Hotel Cosmos by Raymond Z. Gallun.

(The Proxy Robot from Hotel Cosmos)

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