New York New York | Goodbye for Now to the Robot That (Sort Of) Patrolled New York’s

| Goodbye for Now to the Robot That (Sort Of) Patrolled New York’s Subway Share free access Log 55
in

Goodbye for Now to the Robot That

(Sort Of) Patrolled New York’s Subway
The New York Police Department’s Knightscope K5 debuted in
Times Square amid fanfare from Mayor Eric Adams. It ended its
brief tour exiled to a vacant storefront, all alone.

Share free access 55

Subscribe to The New York Times. Subscribe

The Police Department assigned officers to chaperone the K5, which could not

Help TheTimes journalists uncover the next big story.

navigate stairs and spent much of its time plugged into a charger. David Dee Delgado for
New York Times Subscribe Now
Subscribe to The New York Times.
By Dana Rubinstein and Hurubie Meko
Feb. 2, 2024

The New York Police Department robot sat motionless like a sad
Wall-E on Friday morning, gathering dust inside an empty
storefront within New York City’s busiest subway station.

No longer were its cameras scanning straphangers traversing

Times Square. No longer were subway riders pressing its help
button, if ever they had.

New York City has retired the robot, known as the Knightscope K5,
from service inside the Times Square station. The Police
Department had been forced to assign officers to chaperone the
robot, which is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 400 pounds. It could
not use the stairs. Some straphangers wanted to abuse it.

“The K5 Knightscope has completed its pilot in the NYC subway

system,” a spokesman for the department said in an email.

On Friday, the white contraption in Police Department livery sat

amid a mountain of cardboard boxes, separated from the
commuting masses by a plate-glass window. People streaming by
said they had often been mystified by the robot.

“I thought it was a toy,” said Derek Dennis, 56, a signal engineer.

It was an ignominious end for an experiment that Mayor Eric

Adams, a self-described tech geek, hoped would help bring safety
and order to the subways, at a time when crime remained a
pressing concern for many New Yorkers.

The robot was to have been an extra set of eyes in a system where
ridership remains well below prepandemic levels. Its squat
presence was supposed to deter crime, and its communication
abilities would provide a way for straphangers in distress to seek
help.

A Police Department at a Critical Moment

The New York Police Department is facing challenges on several fronts.

A N.Y.P.D. Robot Retires: The Knightscope K5, which debuted amid

fanfare from Mayor Eric Adams in 2023, was meant to help patrol New
York City’s subway system. It ended its run gathering dust inside an empty
storefront within the Times Square station .

An Idealistic Cop: Mathew Bianchi took routine traffic stops seriously and
handed out tickets regardless of people’s connections within the Police
Department. He says he was punished for it .

Budget Cuts: Adams said that the city had restored funding to the New
York Police Department and would add 600 recruits, a reversal of his dire
warning in November that there would be a hiring freeze.
Feeling the Beat: The N.Y.P.D. Dance Team is finding its niche in a
department where most clubs are dedicated to traditionally macho
pastimes.

“Eventually, this is going to be part of the fabric of our subway

system,” Mr. Adams said in September , when he hailed the robot’s
arrival in Times Square, part of a monthslong pilot project that he
said was costing the city only $9 an hour.

“This is below minimum wage,” Mr. Adams said. “No bathroom

breaks. No meal breaks. This is a good investment.”

But on Friday, Jose Natera, 49, a construction worker, said he

would usually see two police officers awkwardly standing next to
the robot under Seventh Avenue.

“Who cared for who,” he asked. “The robot for the police, or the
police for the robot?”

Kelvin Caines, a security officer, said he never saw the robot

making the rounds. Instead, it sat plugged into a charging station
and people posed next to it for selfies.

The officers “never let it do anything,” he said. “They could at least

walk it down the hallway.”

The K5 was meant to deter crime and give commuters a way to report it. But many
were mystified by its bulbous presence. Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images

The city has been leasing the robot from Knightscope, a Mountain
View, Calif.-based company. Last April, when the mayor first
announced it had come to New York , his office said the city had
struck a seven-month contract with the company, which included
three months to prepare the device for use and four months to test
it, all for the cost of $12,250.

On Friday, Charles Lutvak, a spokesman for the mayor, said that

the K5 had in fact been on a six-month deployment ending in
March and its tour at the Times Square station ended as planned at
the start of December. He said the robot had worked a shift from
midnight to 6 a.m.

“The Adams administration is constantly exploring innovative

technologies that can advance the work we’ve done to bring down
crime and keep New Yorkers safe, while maximizing the use of
taxpayer dollars,” Mr. Lutvak said. “We are reviewing options for
the K5’s next deployment as part of the pilot.”

The mayor had said the robot would not use facial recognition
technology, but its arrival immediately sparked concern among
civil libertarians, who warned that it was the harbinger of an ever-
ore-dystopian surveillance society and would further infringe
upon New Yorkers’ privacy.

Last year, the Legal Aid Society asked that the Police Department’s
use of surveillance technology be investigated, arguing that it was
violating a city law requiring it to disclose how new technology is
being used and how data is protected.

On Thursday, Shane Ferro, a staff lawyer with the group’s Digital

Forensics Unit, said that the Adams administration was “distracted
by false claims of high-tech solutions to age-old issues.”

The mayor has a longstanding interest in novel, if not outlandish,

technologies. As Brooklyn borough president, he touted a lasso-like
device called BolaWrap that was designed to incapacitate
emotionally unstable people. His friend Frank Carone had invested
in the company. Mr. Carone would go on to serve as Mr. Adams’s
chief of staff in City Hall.

Mr. Adams has also championed the city’s use of a robotic dog —
the Digidog — to assist emergency responders in situations that
pose a risk of bodily harm.

The arrival of the K5 in New York City was heralded with not one ,

but two media events. The robot’s at least temporary retirement

was accompanied by nary a beep.

Earlier this week, Edward Caban, the police commissioner, gave

his state of the department address at Cipriani in Manhattan,
where a video montage of all the technological gadgets and
machines that officers have used in the past year was displayed on
an enormous screen.

There was dramatic footage of drones, the Digidog and a gun that
can attach electronic trackers to fleeing cars.

There was no mention of the K5.

Stacy Stephens, a spokesman for Knightscope, declined to

comment on Friday about the fate of the Police Department’s K5.
“Unfortunately, we are not authorized to speak about certain
clients,” she said. “We do hope you understand.”

The company’s stock was trading at 59 cents a share Thursday,

down from $16.29 at its initial public offering on Jan. 28, 2022.

With major crimes down and the mayor mandating budget cuts
across city agencies, Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a privacy and civil
rights group, said people should question spending on gadgets.

“I described it as a trash can on wheels, but it looks like the wheels

aren’t even working at this point,” Mr. Cahn said.

On Thursday evening, as the rush hour crowds surged through the

Times Square station, the robot sat silently in its brightly lit exile.
Two police officers standing at the turnstiles nearby said that,
although they were not regularly assigned to the station, they
could not recall ever seeing the robot on the beat.

One of the officers said that he was relieved the robot had been
mothballed. He did not want to be responsible for it.

Maria Cramer and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

Dana Rubinstein covers New York City politics and government for The Times. More
about Dana Rubinstein
A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 3, 2024 , Section A , Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline:
Bulbous Cop of the Future Quietly Taken Off Its Beat . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Read 55 Comments

Share free access 55

More In New York Trending in The Times

Opinion: Inside Trump’s Not-So-Swift

Brain

Anxiety, Mood Swings and Sleepless

Nights: Life Near a Bitcoin Mine

Dave Sanders for The New York Times Opinion: As Kids, They Thought They
With House Seat at Stake, ‘ItTurned Out That We Lived About When Migrant Families Were Were Trans. They No Longer Do.
Republicans Court Jewish Voters 10 Blocks From Each Other’ Evicted, Neighbors Invited Them
Rattled by War Home A Couple Went Viral. Then the Internet
Started Digging.

Northern Ireland Has a Sinn Fein

Leader. It’s a Landmark Moment.

She’s Not Celibate — She’s ‘Boysober’

Pool photo by Curtis Means Richard Beaven for The New York Times Anke Frohlich S.N.L. Brings Nikki Haley Into the Mix
Trump’s Former Finance Chief in An Autistic School Board Member The Ballad of Flaco, the Outlaw
Negotiations to Plead Guilty to Sued for Discrimination. She Won Who Learned to Fly Fox News Suddenly Wants Celebrities
Perjury $10. Out of Politics. Well, One Celebrity.

Editors’ Picks Nikki Haley’s ‘Rock’ Is Watching Her

Campaign From a Distance

After Speedy Start, Appeals Court

Slows Down on Trump Immunity
Decision

Laura Hull Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Jamiel Law

Why Bedrooms Aren’t Just for André 3000 Finally Takes the Stage, How Negro History Week Became
Sleeping Anymore and There Are No Words Black History Month and Why It
Matters Now

Go to Home Page »

news Opinion Arts Living More Subscribe

Home Page Today's Opinion Today's Arts Automotive Reader Center Home Delivery
World Columnists Art & Design Games The Athletic Digital Subscriptions
Coronavirus Editorials Books Education Wirecutter
Games
U.S. Guest Essays Best Sellers Book List Food Cooking
Politics Letters Dance Health Headway Cooking
New York Sunday Opinion Movies Jobs Live Events Email Newsletters
Business Opinion Video Music Love The Learning Network Corporate Subscriptions
Tech Pop Culture Magazine Podcasts Education Rate

Science Television Parenting Video

Mobile Applications
Sports Theater Real Estate Graphics Replica Edition
Wildfire Tracker Video: Arts Style TimesMachine International
Obituaries T Magazine Times Store Canada
Today's Paper Travel Manage My Account Español
Corrections Gift Articles 中文网
Trending NYTLicensing

© 2024 The New York Times Company NYTCo Contact Us Accessibility Work with us Advertise T Brand Studio Your Ad Choices Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Sale Site Map Help Subscriptions