Robot security guard helps prevent vandalism, car break-ins at Portland hotel

By Drew Marine

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    PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — It’s a futuristic solution to an age-old problem.

“He’s different than a regular security guard, for sure,” Aloft’s Area General Manager, Mike Daley, said.

Their security guard is 5′3″, roams the parking lot in random patterns and can even self-charge when he needs to. Daley is talking about their security guard, Robby, who happens to be a robot.

“350 or 400 pounds, he runs at about 3 to 5 miles an hour, he has cameras 360 degrees around him. He’s got thermal imaging so, if somebody’s behind a car, he can sense that they’re there and then he’ll move his way over there,” Daley said. “Whenever he encounters a human he pings the front desk, they can see everything he sees and they can assess the situation whether they call an emergency person, the police or if someone needs help.”

They deployed Robby back in December, after dealing with security staffing issues and a consistent problem with crime at their hotel. Daley said about twice a week someone would vandalize their building at Cascade station or break into guests’ cars.

“Not only is it a cost saver, but we can actually consistently make sure we have somebody here 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Daley said.

He hasn’t been on the job for a year yet, but Daley said he’s already made quite the difference.

“We haven’t had any incidents in the last four or five months,” he said.

Not to mention he’s a fan favorite among guests who stay there.

“They love taking pictures with him. He’s good for that. He’s kinda cute, he looks like a really turboed out R2-D2,” he said.

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