{"id":5076,"date":"2022-09-21T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/?p=5076&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=5076"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:09:33","slug":"robots-enhancing-our-security-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/on-the-move\/robots-enhancing-our-security-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots &#8211; Enhancing Our Security &#8211; Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"engineering-an-electric-drive-truck-that-drives-across-the-most-challenging-terrain-on-earth\" style=\"font-size:34px\">Robotic policing: fully autonomous security robots, built to deter, detect, and report.<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"embed-megaphone\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=TLFIE1713835227\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><!-- Megaphone -->\n\n\n<div class=\"row podcast-social\">\n    <div class=\"col-12 col-sm-2\"><p>Follow us on:<\/p><\/div>\n    <div class=\"col\">\n        <a class=\"button itunes-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-future-car-a-siemens-podcast\/id1435259964\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes<\/a>\n        <a class=\"button google-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBpcHBhLmlvL3B1YmxpYy9zaG93cy81YjhmMjdmMDYzNDg2ZWM1MWY4ZjI4ZTQ\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Podcasts<\/a>\n        <a class=\"button spotify-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3A0NqY8p2lHxcneSxLfkcV?si=q7HVVJYtTeGPdOmyAF23pQ\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spotify<\/a>\n        <a class=\"button stitcher-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/the-future-car-a-siemens-podcast\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stitcher<\/a>\n        <a class=\"button tunein-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Technology-Podcasts\/The-Future-Car-p1154372\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TuneIn<\/a>\n        <a class=\"button rss-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/feeds.acast.com\/public\/shows\/5b8f27f063486ec51f8f28e4\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RSS<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-395x222.jpg 395w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1-900x506.jpg 900w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robot security guards.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Safety and security!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every stable government should do everything within its power to guarantee its citizens these two things. One of the ways of improving security is by equipping security personnel with the right tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s data-driven world, this means solutions that can process more data in the environment they\u2019re deployed in better than a person would. Such a solution would enhance the capability of police officers and other security personnel. This is exactly what Knightscope robots are designed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode, the first part of two, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/edward-bernardon-922442\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ed Bernardon<\/a> interviews <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/williamsantanali\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Santana Li<\/a>, Chairman, and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightscope.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Knightscope<\/a> \u2013 an advanced security technology company that makes fully autonomous security robots built to deter, detect and report. He\u2019ll help us understand more about their robots and the progress they\u2019ve made so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"accordion\" class=\"podcast-infonotes\">\n  <div class=\"card\">\n    <div class=\"card-header\" id=\"headingOne\">\n      <span class=\"mb-0\">\n        <button class=\"btn btn-link collapsed\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapseOne\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapseOne\">\n          Expand Show Notes        <\/button>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <div id=\"collapseOne\" class=\"collapse\" aria-labelledby=\"headingOne\" data-parent=\"#accordion\">\n      <div class=\"card-body\">\n        <p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Some Questions I Ask:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What needs to change for the US to become the safest country in the world? (02:27)<\/li>\n<li>How can you help achieve the security standards people expect? (08:10)<\/li>\n<li>How does the data collection system work? (17:02)<\/li>\n<li>What were some of the most surprising things that happened in the robot\u2019s interaction with people that you didn&#8217;t expect? (20:32)<\/li>\n<li>Will your robots, at some point in the future, carry weapons? (25:45)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What You\u2019ll Learn in this Episode:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The extent of the shortage of police officers in the US (04:05)<\/li>\n<li>Knightscope\u2019s robots capabilities (06:55)<\/li>\n<li>The price of Knightscope\u2019s autonomous security robot services (14:40)<\/li>\n<li>How Knightscope\u2019s robots communicate with people (19:36)<\/li>\n<li>The factors they took into consideration when designing their robots (27:20)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Connect with William Santana Li:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/williamsantanali\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightscope.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Knightscope<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wsantanali\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Connect with Ed Bernardon:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/edward-bernardon-922442\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/global\/en\/resource\/future-car-whitepaper\/87745\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Future Car: Driving a Lifestyle Revolution<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/new.siemens.com\/global\/en\/company\/stories\/industry\/autonomous-and-connected-vehicles.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Motorsports is speeding the way to safer urban mobility<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/global\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Siemens Digital Industries Software<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n      <div class=\"card\">\n        <div class=\"card-header\" id=\"headingTwo\">\n        <span class=\"mb-0\">\n            <button class=\"btn btn-link collapsed\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapseTwo\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapseTwo\">Expand Transcript<\/button>\n        <\/span>\n        <\/div>\n        <div id=\"collapseTwo\" class=\"collapse\" aria-labelledby=\"headingTwo\" data-parent=\"#accordion\">\n            <div class=\"card-body\"><p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>The 2021 Global Peace Index ranked the United States 128th on the list of safest countries. Not a very good showing. Part of the reason may just be that Police departments and security companies are overworked and under-resourced. A need exists for more effective and far-reaching systems of security.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>One solution that\u2019s gaining a lot of traction is security robots. The technology exists for autonomous robots to survey perimeters, collect pertinent data, and facilitate security operations. But can these robots actually help improve security in the United States and elsewhere? Well, Bill Li, CEO of Knightscope, has a company that makes autonomous security robots, and he has a goal of making America the safest nation in the world. Now, these aren\u2019t the diabolical, armed Robocops that we see in the movies, but rather, you could think of them as assistants to your local police and security companies. Bill is going to tell us a little bit about how a former Ford executive ended up in the Robocop business and all the technology that\u2019s behind his autonomous machines.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>My guest today, Bill Santana Li, is the Chairman and CEO of Knightscope, an advanced security technology company that makes fully autonomous security robots, built to deter, detect, and report. In Part 1 of this two-part interview, Bill and I discuss the security needs of America in this day and age and how Knightscope security robots can help meet those needs. We talk about the functionality of Knightscope\u2019s robots, data collection, and the inspiration behind Knightscope, and everything in between. Join me, Ed Bernardon, on this episode of The Future Car as Bill and I take a look into the future of robotic policing.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Bill, welcome to the Future Car podcast.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Thanks for having us, and greetings from Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Knightscope. So, it\u2019s an advanced security technology company; you make robots to deter, detect, report crimes, and your mission is to make America the safest country in the world. So, from your perspective, what needs to change in the USA for it to become the safest country in the world?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>It\u2019s actually rather simple. It\u2019s to provide the 1 million officers and 1 million security guards with actual tools for them to do their jobs much more effectively. We would never dare treat a soldier in a theater of war in the manner that we treat our officers and guards. The two-plus million soldiers out in a theater of war get every level of technology you might ever imagine or can\u2019t possibly imagine. And there are massive companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, or Boeing to build a soldier whatever he or she might need on the battlefield or in a theater of war. And there\u2019s an actual process: there\u2019s risk capital; there\u2019s someone in charge, a secretary of defense; there\u2019s a whole military complex that builds all this stuff \u2014 it takes too long, it costs too much money, but it actually delivers the widget, be it a new submarine, new jet fighter, new tank, whatever you might need. That doesn\u2019t actually happen on our own soil, so the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security have no federal jurisdiction over the 19,000 law enforcement agencies and 8,000 private security firms. There is no process, there\u2019s no risk capital, there\u2019s no innovation strategy, there\u2019s no accountability, and that\u2019s why in the year 2022, you\u2019ve got security guards out there literally in the parking lot with a number two pencil and a notepad. And that has got to change.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>So, unlike the military, where there\u2019s a centralized way to get funding and look at all the needs, you\u2019ve got 19,000 police departments all over the country that are taking care of themselves. They can\u2019t go out and do a big program to advance the next high-tech widget to help them?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>No, they\u2019re understaffed and under-resourced to do the job that\u2019s at hand in the first place. So, them trying to come up with a next-generation technology or strategy is not within their remit or resources. Maybe it\u2019s not a popular thing to say, but the country is understaffed and under-policed. So, I mentioned 2 million folks, they\u2019re running 24\/7. So, at any given time, you can\u2019t triple-shift a human. If you want to cover 24\/7, you need four people, so you need to divide the 2 million by four. So, at any given time, there are only 500,000 humans trying to secure 332 million Americans across 50 states. That basic, simple math doesn\u2019t work, and I can prove it doesn\u2019t work. If you just go to the FBI crime clock, you see a horrendous amount of violence and property crimes every few seconds in our nation; therein lies the evidence of what we\u2019re doing is not working, and I think it\u2019s time we fix it.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>You probably have done this, but if you were to survey a group of police officers and you were to say to them, \u201cI can create a technology for you to make your job easier,\u201d what do you think they would say? Or what do they say?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Well, anything that\u2019s going to keep an officer out of harm\u2019s way, one, is really important; I think, two, giving them unprecedented situational awareness to understand what\u2019s going on in multiple locations at the same time; I think, third, it\u2019s a little soft side of things, but something to disintermediate or deescalate a situation, because it\u2019s not always the best idea \u2014 and the officers who would agree with this \u2014 to show up uniformed officers that are armed to a particular situation. It might actually be more helpful to have a step before that. And also the officers don\u2019t have enough time and can\u2019t be everywhere at the same time. So, wherever they can be deployed to be most effective would be much more helpful. And what they really need is some tools. It\u2019s not as much as everyone wants to talk about Robocop and Terminator, and all this other silliness, and \u201cthe robots are coming to kill everyone and take everyone\u2019s job.\u201d I mean, this is a serious time in the country\u2019s history and we need serious solutions, and we\u2019ve developed something that can actually have a big impact. And I think having my co-founder actually be a former officer, and we have multiple military former law enforcement on the team, the folks that you speak of are actually on the Knightscope team and help dream this up.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>I ask a question sometimes to companies and people that work in places that make autonomous cars: \u201cIs your autonomous driver ever going to be as good as a human driver?\u201d And one of the things they say is, \u201cWell, eventually they will. And one of the reasons is, there are so many sensors looking at all different directions that it\u2019s like a human driver with seven heads that can see in the dark.\u201d And in a way, this seems like this big benefit you\u2019re talking about is giving your police officers or security team more eyes and ears so they can see what\u2019s going on in places where they might not be readily able to see.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Eyes, ears, and voice. We have 360-degree eye level \u2014 so we\u2019re not staring at the top of someone\u2019s head \u2014 360-degree eye-level high-definition video, both live streaming and recorded. The machines can read multiple 100 license plates a minute, can do facial recognition, can run a thermal scan of an environment, can detect a mobile device in an area. But the officers can also speak through the machines as if it\u2019s a mobile PA system, or have a two-way conversation human to human. So, again, it\u2019s eyes, ears, and voice on the ground in multiple locations at the same time.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>So, the security business has been around for a long time. And I\u2019m sure there are certain standards that people expect from their security patrols or security systems. So, tell us a little bit about how your robots improve this. First of all, how can you help even achieve the standards they expect and maybe even go beyond that? And maybe tell us a little bit about each of the robots and how they fit into this.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>The standards that the nation expects, and I believe every citizen expects, is I don\u2019t believe the founders of the country ever expected us to build a society where going to work, going to school, or going to a movie theater literally came with a risk of being shot or killed. So, that\u2019s kind of a basic, very low standard that we need to be able to fulfill. And as a country, we\u2019re failing miserably. I think it\u2019s six months into the year, almost 350 mass shootings. That\u2019s just not acceptable, untenable, and we need to fix it. By the way, who\u2019s gotten fired over all those? No one. Why? Because no one\u2019s accountable. That\u2019s another big issue here. To answer your question, I think one of the things that most people think about is what we just discussed, is the eyes, ears, and voice on the ground; they can get a better understanding. But the less maybe glamorous part is just physical deterrence. And I\u2019ll explain this to your audience in a couple of ways. Just very simply, if I put a marked law enforcement vehicle in front of your home or your office, criminal behavior will change. It\u2019s no different than you driving down the highway and you see a marked law enforcement vehicle on the side of the road, frankly don\u2019t care what speed you\u2019re doing, you are going to pump those brakes, look down at the speedometer, or whatever it is, but you will have a reaction. So, if you\u2019re trying to steal a car in a parking lot at three o\u2019clock in the morning, and you pull up and there\u2019s a five-foot-tall, 400-pound machine roaming around \u2014 there\u2019s no one remote controlling it, this is fully autonomous \u2014 this robot is going, it says \u201csecurity\u201d or \u201cpolice\u201d on the side, it\u2019s making some sounds, you have no idea what it does \u2014 you\u2019re going to go steal the car somewhere else or not steal the car at all. And that\u2019s literally what\u2019s been happening with our clients, is just physically being there stops a lot of the negative behavior in the first place.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Yeah, it\u2019s knowing that there are some eyes and ears on you. You raised a good point, though, about accountability. I never thought of that. If no one\u2019s accountable, then what\u2019s the motivation to improve?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Citizens are not willing to accept the status quo anymore. We just took the company public earlier in January, just before the public listing, with 35,000 investors participating as a part of Knightscope\u2019s growing story over the last nine years. You don\u2019t get that outpouring of 35,000 people going \u201cI had enough of this, we need to fix the problem.\u201d We still live in a democracy and we need to hold the institutions accountable for what they\u2019re responsible for. What is the first role of government? To protect its citizens. The country is well over 200 years old, we\u2019re in our 46th president, and no one\u2019s actually fixed this problem. And the problem being, to be absolutely clear, crime and terrorism have a $2 trillion negative economic impact on the US every single year. It\u2019s a hidden tax we all pay in blood, tears, and treasure. And I think this is an opportunity for technology and the private sector and public sector to partner together to actually fix the problem. And if anyone\u2019s doubting that a combination of autonomous technology, robotics, AI, and electric vehicles can actually solve the problem, I\u2019d just submit to you the results. Go to knightscope.com\/crime, and we\u2019re just getting started, you can see a nice long list of all the positive impacts the technology has already made on society, and we\u2019re just getting going.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Because of what\u2019s happening in society, have you seen the private sector being more motivated now to try and improve? And has it helped you in showing them how you can help them?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Oh, absolutely, by far. As I mentioned, my co-founder is a former law enforcement officer. We actually started selling the technology into the private sector first. In my opinion, it\u2019s ill-advised for young technology companies to do business with government sales as the first go-to-market; you will run out of money; you will fail before you get your first order. And unfortunately, both law enforcement and security industries are not the most technologically savvy sectors or folks headfirst. So, we actually did start on the private sector first \u2014 so, primarily around hospitals, commercial real estate, corporate campuses, casinos, manufacturing plants, logistic facilities, basically anywhere indoors or outdoors, mostly outdoors, where you might see an officer or guard is an opportunity for Knightscope. So, some of our clients are Bank of Hawaii, Citizens Bank, Houston Methodist Hospital, Dignity Health, numerous casinos, Samsung \u2014 there\u2019s a whole host of folks in the private sector that have shown that this can work. And then now we\u2019ve started adding more law enforcement agencies like the Huntington Park Police Department that has done very well with the technology and continue to renew the contracts. So, we\u2019re excited about the future.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Some of those places you mentioned, like casinos and hospitals, they\u2019re not really the types of places that are used to having robot technology.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>One little characteristic before we had gotten into it because I never thought that that would be a place where we would spend a lot of time. If you sit back and just think about it, both the casino and hospital, 24\/7 stuff is going on. In one, there\u2019s alcohol and cash involved, so drama shall ensue. The other one, it\u2019s a hospital, so there\u2019s definitely a lot of activity there 24\/7. And obviously, during a pandemic, you likely don\u2019t want to be the security guard at the hospital. So, there are a lot of opportunities. I think, if you look over the next three decades of what we intend to do, criminals and terrorists don\u2019t care that we work well in casinos or hospitals, or corporate campuses. Basically, they can be anywhere, so we need to be everywhere. So you might imagine that we would have every size from ultra small incognito mode at a federal courthouse through the largest size to get through a city and highway so that we can secure all the places you visit, live, study, and work.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Now, you provide your robots as a service rather than actually selling the robots. So, if I was running a hospital, I don\u2019t have to worry about maintaining my robots or programming them or doing any of that, that\u2019s all handled by you. So, that makes it a lot easier.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>All-inclusive service. We price it so that it\u2019s very difficult to say no. At $3 to $9 an hour, it can be very enticing for those that are budget constrained. We can run single, double, or triple shifts. We take care of everything: we build the machines, we deploy them, we support them, we service them 24\/7, 365. Anything goes wrong, it\u2019s one throat to choke, we\u2019re responsible. Because our clients are busy, they have their operations they need to be running, and we want to make this as affordable and cost-effective as possible. And I think it\u2019s proven itself well; numerous clients that have renewed for the third year, the fourth year, the fifth year because we\u2019ve actually had a positive impact.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>You\u2019ve got several different models: K1, K3, K5, working on the K7. Tell us a little bit about what each one of them does and how their applications differ from one model to the next.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>The K5 is the most popular model, that\u2019s what I was alluding to earlier. It\u2019s primarily used outdoors, again, five foot tall, three foot wide, 400 pounds, roams around autonomously 24\/7, including autonomously recharging itself.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Is that like a Roomba?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>It\u2019s more like a self-driving car, where we use LIDAR, sonar, and a bunch of crazy software to be able to autonomously operate in dynamic, indoor and outdoor environments. So, think pre-COVID, indoors, at a mall at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon on a Saturday is complete mayhem; you\u2019ve got to be able to manage to get through those crowds, or several locations where you might be at a nine-story parking structure going up and down with plenty of vehicles and plenty of humans. So, that\u2019s our most popular model. There is a K3, which is a little bit smaller for indoor applications: four feet tall, two feet wide. And then the K1 is a stationary version, so we can cover the same technology stack for ingress\/egress location \u2014 so, wherever a lot of humans might be coming in and out or a lot of vehicles \u2014 think of a casino where you could put that at the entryway or exit to making sure that you\u2019ve got enough coverage to better secure the facility.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>And you also have a system for collecting data because that\u2019s one of the big things that these robots do as part of surveillance with all their different sensors. So, tell us a little bit about that system.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Sure. That\u2019s how we get Big Brother to work, is collect as much data as possible so we can surveil everyone and sell all the data to the highest bidder \u2014 just kidding. A lot of folks worry about Big Brother and \u201cWhat are you doing with the data?\u201d Contractually, the way we set it up is real simple, basically, the security data is owned by the client, not by us. So, we are not in the position to be selling data to the highest bidder or monetizing it, or doing something else with it. Our mission is to secure the country, not to go monetize someone\u2019s data. So, that\u2019s the first point. The machines do generate a massive amount of data; it\u2019s 90 terabytes per machine per annum that no human is going to be able to ever process. So, we put that in a digestible format in a browser-based user interface we call the KSOC. As everyone focuses on the robots, the magic is actually on the other side, which is the Knightscope Security Operations Center; this is where our clients typically utilize the technology to interface with the machines, grab historical data, pull as much live data as they want. If something\u2019s happening at the moment, then that gives them the eyes, ears, and voice on the ground that we spoke of earlier.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>And the confidentiality of data is very, very important. So, it sounds like you\u2019ve got that covered.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Yeah, we\u2019re operating in public environments. We\u2019re not in someone\u2019s restroom or conference room or office or what have you, so that\u2019s not where we operate \u2014 one. Two, if we didn\u2019t have the basics covered on privacy, we wouldn\u2019t be able to operate on a Fortune 500 corporate campus, a financial institution, a hospital, or a law enforcement agency. I think, third, we\u2019re about 17-18 months into a two-year little bit of a nightmare US cybersecurity review process with the US federal government. And hopefully, by the end of the year, we\u2019ll get an ATO or an Authority To Operate. So, if we\u2019ve gone through, at that time, two years of scrutiny by the US Federal Government and now we can work with our sponsor there, which is the US Department of Veterans Affairs, I think that should give some comfort to folks that we\u2019ve thought through the processes and the technology carefully.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Now, you said these robots can actually talk to people as well. I imagine it\u2019s not the actual robot that\u2019s talking but a human talking through the robot. Is that how that works?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Both. So, I\u2019ll give you a couple of examples. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a commercial property owner. Between 10 o\u2019clock at night and five in the morning, there should be no one waltzing around your property. If we see someone, we could have the machine do an automatic pre-recorded broadcast; \u201cHey, it\u2019s 02:00 in the morning, you\u2019re trespassing, I\u2019m calling the authorities.\u201d You could have some fun with it: You\u2019re at the mall, you\u2019re driving by Starbucks, \u201cHey, you want a coffee?\u201d It could be Happy Mother\u2019s Day, it could be random, it could be the time of day, or it could be a human on the other side either trying to greet someone or deescalate a situation \u2014 like literally a talk down, which is, \u201cHey, it\u2019s 02:22 in the morning. We\u2019ve captured your information, and if you don\u2019t vacate the premises immediately.\u201d And then the third one is text-to-speech; the officer or guard can sit there and type what they want, and then the machine can announce that.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>So, they interact with people. Whenever you interact with people with a machine, you never know what\u2019s going to happen. I want you to turn the clock back to the early days when you first started putting your robots out there, what were some of the most surprising things that happened in this interaction with people that you didn\u2019t expect?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>For the Star Wars fans out there. The company was founded in April of 2013, we put the first one out in the wild on May the Fourth of 2015 \u2014 so, may the force be with you. And honestly, the team, we were very concerned internally because no one\u2019s actually done this in the real world. We didn\u2019t know if society would allow us to do this \u2014 like what\u2019s going to happen? We\u2019re going to go put this machine out there. Are people going to go nonlinear or it\u2019s going to be a non-event or whatever? What I didn\u2019t expect to happen was we put the machine out there and it just drove so many robot selfies; people just wanting to take a picture with the robot; parents driving their kids for four hours just to take a picture with the robot; girls leaving lipstick, literally, marks on the machine with a big kiss on the side. I didn\u2019t expect that, to be honest, at all, that was the first couple of things. The other one was someone had asked me, \u201cHey, are you going to name the robots or brand the robots?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cIt\u2019ll be fine, we\u2019ll just put Knightscope on it, leave him that color and it\u2019ll be fine.\u201d I want to say 90% of our clients have the machines branded with their own brand on it \u2014 like it literally says \u201cSamsung\u201d on the side, which I didn\u2019t expect. And then almost all of them are named, meaning the client had a robot naming contest. And then there\u2019s a different emotional attachment with the people there and the robot because now they named it, and now it has a personality, for them. And then there\u2019s a different bond that gets built, as opposed to \u201cthe scary robot is coming here to kill everybody.\u201d That\u2019s a couple of things that I really didn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>And you certainly didn\u2019t expect that lipstick would make it so your security camera couldn\u2019t see anyone after one of your robots gets a kiss. So, these are the things you learn when you start doing testing in the real world. You said that people name the robots, and I heard there was one named Rosie that I think fell into a river. What are some of the mishaps? Tell us a little bit about Rosie.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>First and foremost, as a former auto executive, you would agree with me that the automotive industry is a mature industry; it\u2019s 100-plus years old. Pre-COVID, how many accidents occurred every day? Literally 15,000 accidents every single day for a 100-year-old mature industry. We\u2019ve had a few incidents over the last few years and there will be more. The issue here is that you cannot build this technology in some laboratory somewhere. No one\u2019s ever done this before, so you have to have that field experience. And now that we\u2019ve been through a million and a half hours of actual field experience with paying clients 24\/7, in the rain, at night, across the entire country, through six summers and six winters; we kind of learned a thing or two because we\u2019ve seen a thing or two. And I expect that\u2019s why insurance exists as an industry, accidents occur. In some cases, it\u2019s our fault, and the cool thing is we drop a new software every couple of weeks, new hardware every few months, and we learn over time and the technology gets better and better. But at some times \u2014 and now we have the evidence to back this up \u2014 it\u2019s not the technology\u2019s fault or the robot\u2019s fault, it\u2019s the human\u2019s fault. A lot of folks shouldn\u2019t have driver\u2019s licenses, let\u2019s just put it that way. If it was you that had nothing to do with being a robot or not, you\u2019d be run over. People get in their car, don\u2019t look in the side view mirror, the rearview mirror, just put it into reverse and floor it. There\u2019s no level of technology we can build \u2014 I can\u2019t fix stupid. And that happens a lot more often than I was anticipating, to be frank. It\u2019s funny a lot of folks in the media and society are worried about robots. From where I sit, given what I just said to you and all the crime going on, I don\u2019t worry about the robots, I frankly worry about the humans. The humans don\u2019t create all this violence and mayhem and accidents; it\u2019s certainly not the technology.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>I mean, a robot that acts on its own in a factory is skilled \u2014 if we can use that word \u2014 differently than a robot that has to interact with a human while it\u2019s trying to do a certain task because humans are unpredictable, so it\u2019s not easy. Some of the jobs I\u2019ve had in the past were more towards development and R&amp;D; one of my engineering bosses told me once, \u201cEd, it\u2019s okay to make mistakes as long as they\u2019re new mistakes.\u201d So, you don\u2019t want to make the same mistake twice. And like you said, you can\u2019t anticipate everything, so now you have a windshield wiper to wipe the lipstick off<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>The stuff that we all worried about, in a lot of cases, didn\u2019t happen. And the stuff that wasn\u2019t ever on a list, was never in a meeting, never one ever worried about is the stuff that ends up causing all kinds of ridiculous issues. That\u2019s why that field experience is really important.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Now, your robots don\u2019t carry weapons. And I\u2019m sure you probably get this question all the time. Is this something maybe you\u2019re planning for the future? Could that be an evolution?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Absolutely not for at least three reasons. The first reason is that subject is covered already by the Department of Defence. As I said, the DOD has over an $800 billion budget; why would you want to be investing more in that space? It\u2019s not what we need to be doing to secure our country. Second, if you\u2019re trying to build a new technology for society to trust, the last thing you need to be doing is tazing someone. And then third, half in jest and half in serious, is I\u2019ve got no engineers interested in being the test dummy to go develop that stuff. So, for us, bright red line, absolutely not. Our stated goal is, over the long-term, we want to put a million machines in the field to help a million officers and a million guards actually be able to do their jobs appropriately and effectively.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>You mentioned military machines, there may be military machines that are autonomous that could carry weapons. Are there any commercial machines out there similar to yours, commercial surveillance robots that do carry weapons?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Not that I am aware of. There\u2019s always stuff on YouTube or in someone\u2019s garage.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Yeah, but not commercially available.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Not that are autonomous. There\u2019s a lot of tactical stuff that\u2019s used remote-controlled, that can be used for that purpose, but not at scale, not commercially viable that I know of.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Plus your robots are so friendly looking. It looks like an R2-D2 with more of a pointy head. That\u2019s why people want to give it a hug.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>Yeah, so we had a little bit of a design challenge here because this is not on a battlefield; you need to operate in society. You need to make it approachable enough that you\u2019re not going to scare grandma or the child. But you need to make it have enough of a commanding presence or a minor level of intimidation that it\u2019s actually going to help with stopping the negative behavior. We had to think through every surface, every font, every color, that we use, every radius, and every little thing on the machine to give you that notion. But at the same time, there\u2019s an audio component that goes with it, there\u2019s a patrol sound that you don\u2019t want to sneak up on someone but you also want to deter that behavior by, like, \u201cI don\u2019t know what that sound is, let me go somewhere else.\u201d It\u2019s a little bit of social experimenting and design at the same time.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Everybody loves R2-D2. Have you ever thought of teaching your robots to speak whatever language it is that R2-D2 speaks? That would actually be a friendly interaction don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>The machines can speak in different languages, especially if it\u2019s a pre-recorded type of thing. So, we do have some clients that I believe most of it has been in Spanish, in particular locations where they would like a dual language machine, and also picking the gender is important for some clients. So, that\u2019s also part of the onboarding process.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>Tell us about your favorite Knightscope crime-fighting story that your robots have been able to do.<\/p>\n<p><b>William Santana Li: <\/b>So, a little preamble before I answer the question. For most officers and guards, 95% 98% of time, there\u2019s nothing going on. It\u2019s not like what\u2019s on TV all day long. It appears as though it\u2019s chaos and drama every moment of the day, that\u2019s not the reality. So, the statistical probability of us being somewhere at the right time at the right location and we are able to help is close to zero \u2014 the likelihood that something happens. And that, to me, is most fascinating that we\u2019ve been able to have any crimefighting to speak of in the first place. I think the one that was emotional for me was, I think I was in a car in New York City going from one meeting to another, one of my colleagues calls me up, he\u2019s like, \u201cHey Bill, you\u2019re not going to believe what happened.\u201d This was, I think, our first win. He said, \u201cWe just helped the police department issue an arrest warrant for a sexual predator.\u201d I nearly dropped the phone. I can\u2019t elaborate too much, but eyes, ears, and voice on the ground to give the officers and guards an ability for them to better understand the environment where they might not always be. So, we had all the evidence to prosecute. And to me, having a crimefighting win was awesome. But also for years and years, you have no idea how hard it\u2019s been to build this company; \u201cHey, Bill, you\u2019re out of your mind, this will never work. It\u2019s hardware, it\u2019s software, it\u2019s too complicated. Physical security is not an investment thesis. This will never work. And then this will never work, and this will never work.\u201d And then to sit there and go, \u201cHere you go. It worked.\u201d And then to have it happen again and again, that\u2019s the one that probably sticks out in my mind, that first one. I was literally speechless, I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe we just did that.\u201d I get most excited about that. Technology is really cool, but to be able to actually have a positive impact is invigorating.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ed Bernardon: <\/b>That\u2019s part 1 with Bill Santana Li of Knightscope. Join us on our next episode when we\u2019ll continue our discussion on how real Robocops will help make a safer world. And as always, for more information about Siemens Digital Industries Software, make sure to visit us at plm.automation.siemens.com. And until next time, I\u2019m Ed Bernardon, and this has been The Future Car podcast.<\/p><\/div>\n        <\/div><!-- end #collapseTwo -->\n    <\/div><!-- end .card -->\n    <\/div><!-- end #accordion -->\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921william-santana-li-head-shot.jpg\" alt=\"William Santana Li CEO Knightscope\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">William Santana Li CEO Knightscope<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p>Ben is the founder of Fering Technologies. He has devoted his career to whole-vehicle design, predominantly in motorsports and supercar design and is the brains behind the Fering Pioneer. He previously worked for Ferrari and McLaren, and was involved in the development of the Caparo T1 project. He has a Bachelor of Science from City, University of London.William Santana Li is a veteran entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience and has guided success across multiple corporations and start-ups. He is presently the Chairman and CEO of Knightscope, developer of crime-fighting Autonomous Security Robots (ASRs). He has extensive experience and expertise, which includes serving as a former executive at Ford Motor Company. In addition, Li is the founder of GreenLeaf, a company that grew to become the world\u2019s second-largest automotive recycler and is now part of LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ: LKQ).<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/williamsantanali\/ \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect wtih William on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-last bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/01\/bio-pic-eb-2.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Bernardon, Vice President Strategic Automotive Intiatives - Host\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Ed Bernardon, Vice President Strategic Automotive Intiatives &#8211; Host<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n            <p>Ed is currently VP Strategic Automotive Initiatives at Siemens Digital Industries Software. Responsibilities include strategic planning in areas of design of autonomous\/connected vehicles, lightweight automotive structures and interiors. He is also responsible for Future Car thought leadership including hosting the Future Car Podcast and development of cross divisional projects. Previously a founding member of VISTAGY that developed light-weight structure and automotive interior design software acquired by Siemens in 2011.\u00a0 Ed holds an M.S.M.E. from MIT, B.S.M.E. from Purdue, and MBA from Butler.<\/p>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/edward-bernardon-922442\/  \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Ed Bernardon Linkedin<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>If you like this Podcast, you might also like:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/the-future-car\/sustainable-ev-global-circumnavigation-with-ben-scott-geddes-fering-technologies-part-1\/\">Sustainable EV Global Circumnavigation with Ben Scott-Geddes, Fering Technologies &#8211; Part 2<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/the-future-car\/carlo-mondavis-autonomous-electric-tractors-for-sustainable-affordable-farming-part-1\/\">Carlo Mondavi\u2019s Autonomous Electric Tractors for Sustainable, Affordable Farming &#8211; Part 1<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/the-future-car\/the-next-leap-for-electric-vehicles-with-will-graylin-indigo-technologies-part-1\/\">The Next Leap for Electric Vehicles with Will Graylin, Indigo Technologies \u2013 Part 1<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robotic policing: fully autonomous security robots, built to deter, detect, and report. Follow us on: iTunes Google Podcasts Spotify Stitcher&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45480,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,420],"tags":[353,348,331,321,371,362,332,349,383,402,352,354,376,333,385,379,311,312,326,375,384,360],"industry":[26,27,28,30,31,29],"product":[],"coauthors":[387],"class_list":["post-5076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-the-move","category-ed-bernardon","tag-ai","tag-automotive-2","tag-autonomous-vehicles","tag-design-innovation","tag-digital-future","tag-e-e-systems","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-electrical-systems","tag-electrification","tag-engineer-innovation","tag-industry-4-0","tag-machine-learning","tag-mobility","tag-nx","tag-podcast","tag-product-design","tag-simulation","tag-smart-engineering","tag-systems-modeling","tag-transportation","tag-transportation-revolution","tag-vehicle-electrification","industry-automotive-transportation","industry-automotive-oems","industry-automotive-suppliers","industry-motorcycles-bicycles-parts","industry-rail-systems","industry-trucks-buses-specialty-vehicles"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2022\/09\/921Preferred-Image-01_Siemens_Graphic_1280x720.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5076"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8895,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions\/8895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}