Chances are the Knightscope K5 security robot isn't what you'd expect when you think about robots. But then again, when iRobot's Roomba came out, it didn't look like a robot either. What you see if you happen to pull into the right parking lot near San Francisco is a device that looks like a 5-foot tall, 300-pound white egg balanced on one end gliding quietly through the area.

 Its conical shape is vaguely reminiscent of Robby the Robot from the 1956 movie "Forbidden Planet," but without the arms, legs and other moving appendages. But then the idea behind the Knightscope device isn't quite what you'd expect either. 

 This security robot is intended to replace people in one of life's most boring jobs—that of outside security guard.
According to Stacy Stephens, vice president of marketing and sales and one of Knightscope's founders, the K5 robot is designed specifically to operate outside in parking lots, in garages and in other places where it can perform routine patrols.


The robot is capable of 360-degree video surveillance, audio recording and license plate recognition, and it has an RFID sensor for reading employee ID badges. The robot finds its way using a combination of GPS and LIDAR, which uses laser beams to detect objects and obstacles. When it's deployed, the K5 robot follows an internal map of the area it's supposed to patrol and then moves about the area on its own.

Stephens said the robot will patrol an area, typically for 45 to 50 minutes before returning to its charging pad for a quick 5-minute charge, then head back out again. The actual deployment is fairly straightforward. The minimum deployment is two robots, he said. "We don't do single-robot deployments," he explained, "so they can keep eyes on each other.