Safer and more secure workplaces, with Cobalt and Slack

While Cobalt robots have been patrolling the hallways at Slack offices for some time now, our recent trip to Chicago for GSX came with some exciting news about the next phase of our relationship with Slack.

Our new integration with this industry-leading enterprise collaboration platform will help keep safety and security a priority foryou and your entire office.

“Slack is one of the most ubiquitous communications platforms among modern enterprises, and we see this integration as a way to bridge your digital and physical offices. The ability to communicate issues through Slack allows our Cobalt Security Service to create a more effective, productive working environment for both security and facilities management teams and the employees they serve. Real-time collaboration and issues management are key factors in mitigating risks for a more safe and secure workplace, and we’re excited to work with Slack to bring this integration to life,” said Cobalt CTO and co-founder Erik Schluntz.

Accidents and threats to safety and security in a business setting can occur at a moment’s notice—with the Cobalt and Slack integration, workplaces are armed with another tool to keep employees alert, safe and secure in times of emergency. With this in mind, we’re proud to announce the launch of a new public alert integration for enterprises to identify and notify employees of safety risks as well as mitigate issues in the workplace in real-time.

Slack’s VP of Global Workplace and Real Estate, Deano Roberts, said, “With this new integration, security teams add the Cobalt Security Service to a shared channel within a corporate Slack workspace. Anomalies identified by Cobalt needing further analysis or review from the company populate the channel in real-time, extending the visibility of the Cobalt Dashboard into a collaborative space.”

When Cobalt detects anything that needs escalation or further review—from an unauthorized visitor to CO emissions to a water leak—it triggers a real-time alert in a designated Slack channel. Cobalt follows all company post orders to determine which anomalies and detected events require escalation and review.

If the event requires further discussion or action, companies can create new temporary channels in a workspace from the alert. Onsite security personnel can use the new channel to collaborate with each other and with the Cobalt Specialist Command Center to determine courses of action, including potential new patrol paths or public announcements and broadcasts through the robot. In the case of an emergency, such as a fire or carbon monoxide leak, security teams can activate Cobalt’s PA system and siren through the Slack integration and send Cobalt on a new patrol to monitor an evacuation.

This integration uniquely brings all of a company’s security assets onto a real-time visibility dashboard and communication service. Hardware, software, and people—now in one place to help collaboratively monitor issues and mitigate risks onsite or remotely.

This is an exciting next step on our journey, and we look forward to helping keep more company workspaces more safe and secure and furthering our mission of using robotics to be maximally helpful to the benefit of all.

Learn about how robots are changing the security landscape.

Learn about how robots act as force multipliers.

Learn about human-in-the-loop robotics.