7/21 (Tue.) Robot Security Could Help Cut Crime

[TinaLiang]

Dear YoYos,

Here comes the topic for 7/21 (Tue.), Robot Security Could Help Cut Crime. The original article and audio could be found at http://m.learningenglish.voanews.com/a/ ... 12325.html. Enjoy it~

Shopping centers, stadiums and universities may soon have a new tool to help fight crime. A California company called Knightscope says its robots can predict and prevent crime. Knightscope says the goal is to reduce crime by half in areas the robots guard.
William Santana Li is the chief executive officer of Knightscope. He says these robot security guards will change the world.
"Our planet has seven billion people on it. It's going to quickly get to nine billion people. The law enforcement apparatus and security apparatus that we have globally is just not going to scale."
Mr. Li says his company's Autonomous Data Machines can become the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
"You want it to be machines plus humans. Let the machines do the monotonous computational heavy and sometimes dangerous work and let the humans do the strategic decision-making work so it's always working in tandem."
The machines are one and a half meters tall and weigh 136 kilograms. They do not carry weapons but have day and night time video cameras able to turn 360 degrees. Mr. Li says they can also sense chemical and biological weapons.
Eugene Volokh is a law professor at the University of California. He says the machines have to be used in the right way. He says some people may become concerned about their privacy, especially in connection with the video recordings. Some people may worry that such recordings will appear on the Internet. Mr. Volokh says it will be interesting to see how state laws deal with this kind of surveillance video.
William Santana Li says there is a long waiting list for the robots in the U.S. At least 25 other countries are also interested in these robotic security guards.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reported this story from Los Angeles. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in this Story
stadium - n. a very large usually roofless building that has a large open area surrounded by many rows of seats and that is used for sports events, concerts, etc.
apparatus - n. the organization or system used for doing or operating something
scale - n. the size or level of something especially in comparison to something else
strategic - adj. useful or important in achieving a plan or strategy
in tandem - n. two people, groups or things working or happening together or at the same time
surveillance - n. the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or detect a crime
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Questions for Discussion:
Session I
Q1: Do you believe that "Robot Security Could Help Cut Crime"? Why or why not?
Q2: Nowadays, robots can help us in many ways. Please list as many ways as possible that you can think of.
Q3: How do you want robots to help us in the future?

Session II
Q4: Please compare and contrast the similarities and differences between "robots" and "machines".
Q5: Do you support that using robots and machines to replace labor(er)s? Why or why not?
Q6: Please choose a new word that you learn today, and tell us how can you use the word in which situation or scenario.

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Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements

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聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元


注意事項：
1. 與會者請自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請務必先看過演講影片，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。
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[Rock]

Robots, or autonomous machines, are partly or fully operated by computer programs. Up to now, they are still machines. Actually, many machines we are using now also operate themselves automatically. With one push of a button, a washing machine can do washing, rinsing and spinning by itself. It is a robot already.

Artificial Intelligence, is another story.

[Rock]

This robot guard is just a moving surveillance camera. It should be better equipped with sirens, loudspeakers and pepper spray. I like its cute look, though.

[Rock]

This new TV series is getting popular.

[Iris Wu]

I guess the advanced technology is always a double-edged sword.
The robot security guards, just like unmanned aircraft system, can reduce the loss of human life and the robot system can eliminate the human bias and “profiling” issues in law enforcement apparatus. But in the meantime, when we impose more artificial intelligence into these robots, better decision making ability is developed through machine learning and cognition computing by these robots. Will it become legitimate concern someday that these robots could act outside of human control? I guess I only think about this when I watch the science fiction movies. For now, I like to see the “5-feet tall robot-cops” patrolling the streets. They never cease to amaze me!

This robot guard is just a moving surveillance camera. It should be better equipped with sirens, loudspeakers and pepper spray. I like its cute look, though.

Agreed!

Notes:
Tina, I am still out of town. Sorry for not being able to be there tonight!
Luis, thanks for taking care of meeting and post meeting stuff, you are great!

[TinaLiang]

7/21 (Tue.) Meeting Minute
Attendees: Morris, Howard, Abbey Chang, Leo Chang, Shirley, Amy, Sabrina, Sherry Liao, Luis, Wen-Han, Rock, Tina Liang (Host)

Note:
Q1. Robots could help cut the crime, such as pick pocket. However, highly using robots to help us could also induce other crimes. For example, with all the cameras around us, hackers could hack into the system, retrieve our personal information and use it illegally.
Q2. Nowadays, robots can help us do the chores, operations, cook, serve meal, work in dangerous or dirty environment, and do the delicate or routine jobs in a factory.
Q3. In the future, we hope that robots can still do the house work for us and help us to explore the place that human cannot reach.
Q4. There is no clear definition to distinguish robots and machines. From our point of view, robots can move like humans and process more complicated task or interact with people. However, the cleaning machine, iRobot, doesn’t look like a human, but we still call it a robot.
Q5. Using robots to replace labors is a trend. Since we cannot avoid it, we need to evolve (upgrade) ourselves to be more competitive and creative in the future.
Q6. Septic tank化冀池 The toilet is stuck. Should we check the septic tank and clean it up?

Questions:
人心隔肚皮 http://wenwen.sogou.com/z/q149021754.htm
I would personally say, “You’ll never know what’s in others mind.”