PoliceBot

for Police/Civilian

Interactions

By Vikrant Ragula and Kanishka Ragula

Background

Every year in the United States, over 26.4 Million

people are pulled over during routine traffic stops

50% of all face-to-face encounters between police

and civilians take place during traffic stops

In 2012, 55,400 civilians were injured or killed

On average, 1 in 291 stops resulted in hospital-

treated injury

In 2013, 16 police officers were killed on vehicle

patrol duty

Nearly 50,000 officers were victims of assaults

Nearly 5,000 of these attacks took place during

traffic stops

Stressful Situation, Unsafe for

Officer and Civilian

• Civilian and officer are in close proximity

• Officer is walking into an unknown situation

• Civilian is nervous with anticipated situation

Safe, Calm Situation

Officer in car safe zoneUnarmed

Intermediary

Robot

Civilian safe in car

• Civilian and officer are a safe distance apart

• Officer is not walking into an unknown situation

• Human nervousness is not a factor

Yes94%

No6%

Q1. Have you ever been stopped for a potential traffic violation?

1 = Not Nervous ….. 5 = Extremely Nervous

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1 2 3 4 5

Q2. On a Scale of 1-5, how nervous are you, when a police officer approaches

you?

1

2

3

4

5

0

5

10

15

20

1 2 3 4 5

Q3. On a Scale of 1-5, how nervous will you be, if an

officer controlled unarmed robot were to approach you?

1

2

3

4

5

A Survey of 40 DriversWe conducted a survey with the following 3 questions

Goal

The goal of this business is to create a robot that acts as an intermediary between the police officer and the civilian to de-escalate potentially stressful situations during a traffic stop.

Phase 1 Features of the Robot:

Be non threatening

Single operator controlled

Two way communication between the officer and the civilian

Moving tracks to operate on uneven terrain

Camera with an extendable arm and camera mount

Integrate a scanning device to check license and registration

Ticket Printer

Design Process - Simplicity

We designed our robot with tank treads so that it could navigate most terrains

We designed our robot idea on a white board

We transferred our white board ideas on Sketch-Up to better envision the robot on CAD

We assembled and built a sturdy base.

We built the four pillars and attached the top plate.

We built a turret and extending arm to hold the head of the robot(electronic device).

After building the major parts of the robot, we attached the electronics

We then programmed the functionalities of the robot in Java to move the robot

Skype was used on the iPad for communication

Phase II Robot

Tank Tread Base Movement

Phase II Feedback

Meeting with Salt Lake Police Chief Brown

Feedback:

Better ruggedizing and weatherproofing

Reliability for movement to handle uneven terrain

Chemical analyzer and ticket printer

Video and audio recording

Appearance of robot needs to be friendly

Phase II Feedback

Meeting with Attorney General Sean Reyes and District Attorney Sim Gill for legal feedback and the robot’s effects on evidence gathering and protection of rights

No impact on legal collection, so long as used to expand context of original stop

Less intrusive and more voluntary than current stops

Possible use in Collateral Criminal Prosecutions for other offenses found

Saves lives of officers from assault and being hit on road

Officer can still go over to pulled over vehicle if needed.

Camera evidence more accurate than memory

Should have option to pay off violation there, credit card scanner needed

Future for fully automated system to ticket and pay off violations

Phase III – Design Criteria

From what we learned from interviewing officials, we set up the next list of requirements

Weatherproof robot with tracked wheels

High Definition camera with 2-way audio communication

Collapsible robot to attach to the patrol car

Platform to hold printer

Extender arm with chemical analyzer

Mechanism to mount it on the police car

Credit card scanner to pay off ticket

Phase III Robot Components

Tracks for Movement Arm and Camera

Mount OptionsCameras for Communication

Chemical Analyzer Ticket Printer Remote Control Tablet

Customer Profile

Law Enforcement Agencies (15,400 Police

Departments)

Strong encouragement from Police Chief

Strong encouragement from DA and AG

Potential Application at Military Bases and

Checkpoints

Prevents attempts of suicide bombers to hurt

military personnel

Use of Funds

Purchase parts for Phase III prototype

Machining of components for Phase III

Assembling Phase III Robot

Expected Cost for 2 variants of PoliceBot for testing : $18,000

Aesthetics for robot

Marketing, travel, and demonstrations at Law Enforcement shows. Balance of Funds

District Attorney and AG offered to direct us to the right shows.

Expected Delivery: 1 year from funding.

Contact Information

Kanishka Ragula and Vikrant Ragula

kanishka@ragula.com

vikrant@ragula.com

Ragula Innovations

Salt Lake City, UT

(801) 971-0977

Works Cited

"BJS - Traffic Stops." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Traffic Stops. US Federal

Government, n.d. Web.

Curtis, Henry. "Traffic Stops among Most Dangerous Police Duties." Tribunedigital-

orlandosentinel. Orlando Sentinel, 09 Dec. 2010. Web.

"FBI Releases 2013 Statistics on Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted."

FBI. FBI, 02 Dec. 2014. Web.

Glaser, April. “11 Police Robots Patrolling Around the World”. Wired. Conde Nast,

24 July 2016. Web.

Injury Prevention - US Police Killed or Injured More than 55,000 People during

“legal Interventions” in 2012. N.p.: BMJ, 2016. Injury Prevention. BMJ, 26 July

2016. Web.

Lewinski, William, PhD, Jennifer Dysterheft, Dawn Seefeldt, and Robert Pettitt.

The Influence of Officer Positioning on Movement During a Threatening Traffic

Stop Scenario. Force Science Institute. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web.

O'Brien, Brendan. "Violent Protests Erupt In Milwaukee After Police Kill Suspect At

Traffic Stop." Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Aug. 2016. Web.