Terrified of robot butlers? Well get ready for ROBOT TRAFFIC COPS

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I’ll be honest with you; not two minutes after I finished writing that article about terrifying robot butlers, I got a Slack message from Kevin that linked to this video above.

That’s right: ROBOCOP IS REAL NOW.

Developed by SRI International, this…thing was created in an effort to cut down on the number of injuries, accidents, and fatalities that occur during minor and routine traffic stops (typically as a result of other drivers with wandering eyes) by cutting out the human interaction part of the equation.

The robot is essentially an iPad on a stick mounted to a moving arm, but THAT’S ALWAYS HOW IT STARTS, YOU GUYS. Just look at what else it can do according to The Next Web:

The robot has a built-in screen and camera, allowing the driver and officer to talk to one another from a safe distance. It’s also equipped with a barcode reader that allows for quick scanning of a driver’s license and vehicle registration. If the human officer inside the car decides to issue a citation, the bot even has a printer to spit out citations.

Did I mention that Robo Blart comes equipped with a spike strip arm to prevent traffic delinquents from fleeing? Because it does, you guys, and if that doesn’t make you reconsider just throwing your whole damn car out then I don’t know what will.

Now, Kevin knows that I live in perpetual fear of the robot uprising. He knows this. So the question becomes: do I call him an asshole for bringing this to my attention, or thank him for giving the necessary intel to take this Philip K. Dickian (Phildickian? – Ed.) nightmare down before it can ever get off the ground?

What do you think? Are you cool with LITERAL ROBOCOP? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Jared Jones

Writer. Editor. Barelyknewer. Hate mail can be directed to j j o n e s @ k a r s f o r k i d s d o t e a r t h l i n k