A robot at Dubai airport can report suspicious people

A robot that can detect and report any suspicious people or activity will soon be deployed at Dubai airports.

Dubai Customs has already carried out the pilot phase for the implementation of the robot, which will mainly be placed at the arrival section of the airport.

Khalid Al Zarooni, innovation specialist at Dubai Custom's Innovation Centre, said that the robot could be "one of the best" innovations by his team.

"This is an android. It still hasn't been implemented fully, but it has gone through a piloting phase around the airports," he told Khaleej Times at the Arab Innovation Forum. "It's probably going to be our best innovation, when it gets implemented in full. The brain in the android has so many features and tools connected into it, such as facial recognition, X-ray scanning and thermal vision. What it does is that it gathers data from these features and compiles it into a threat assessment and then it gives alerts to the control room."

He said that when there is no threat for it to detect, it also acts as greeter to travellers at the airport.

Dubai Customs were displaying a total of 10 of their best innovations through a photo gallery at the forum.

Another one of them included a smart vehicle for people with determination. The vehicle has been created to clear custom declarations and assist people with special needs. "It's on call in cooperation with international airlines. They let us know who are special needs people. Either we go to them or they call us and we take the car to them. There's about three at the airports," Al Zarooni said.

The mobile inspection vehicle by Dubai Customs was also being showcased through photos.

"It has a face detection scanner, which is linked to the Interpol. So anyone who is wanted, it automatically picks up their facial signature and informs the control room," he said.

When asked if the face recognition scanner has been successful in catching wanted people, Al Zarooni said: "You would be surprised who comes through Dubai."

ROBOT:

>The robot is an android that has facial recognition, X-ray scanning and thermal vision installed into its "brain".

>It can detect and report suspicious activities or people to the main control room

>When there is no threat, it acts as a greeter and guides travellers through the airport

>Dubai Customs have already carried out a pilot phase for its implementation

>It could be one of the best innovations once implemented

sarwat@khaleejtimes.com