This article written by Lora Kolodny originally appeared on TechCrunch.
The Cobalt Chronicles: Part One
Cobalt’s powerful combination of robot and human takes indoor physical security to new heights by overcoming some of the obstacles that most companies face with guard services.
Among these challenges are the guard industry turnover rate, which is as high as 400%—well above the national average (13.5%). These dismal numbers are due to many factors, including recruiting, training, stress, a sense of isolation, repetitive tasks, and an overall absence of supervision and leadership. Cobalt as a Service enables any organization to increase their after-hours, holidays and weekend situational awareness by engaging a coordinated team of robots and Robot Specialists.
The Cobalt robot itself is an extremely competent guard that utilizes machine learning and computer vision to respond to anomalies like people, doors, suspicious items, and changes in the environment. It autonomously operates, working through the night with a few charging breaks while remaining continuously vigilant to its surroundings.
Together, Cobalt robots and Specialists have already filled a gap in our customers’ physical security. Below are just a couple of real customer incidents that show how Cobalt as a Service mitigates security risks.
When: Early weekday morning
Where: Two floors in a high-rise building – 10,000 sq ft/floor
Incident: Door left open
It was early Tuesday morning, and the Cobalt robot had already completed about 1.5 miles of patrols earlier that shift.
At 5:14 AM, the robot came upon a person inside the office near the front doors and saw him prop open the front doors. This was recognized as an unusual occurrence and the Specialist immediately received a notification. Through Cobalt’s two-way audiovisual display, the specialist communicated with the suspicious person.
“Good morning, I manage security for this location. Could you please tell me who granted you after-hours access to this building?” the Specialist said.
The person informed the specialist that he and his boss were there to perform some electrical work and needed to prop the door open to bring their equipment inside. Following post-orders, the Specialist contacted the facility manager to verify that the people were authorized to enter the office space.
Upon confirmation, the Specialist politely asked the contractor to keep the door shut and that Cobalt would continue to monitor the door until they left the area. After the workers left the front entrance, Cobalt continued on its programmed route for the hour left in its shift.
When: Weekend night
Where: Large office space – 20,000 sq ft
Incident: Door left open
At 10:20 PM, the robot came upon a door propped open. The Cobalt robot alerted the Specialist. While investigating the immediate area for personnel, the Specialist called the building manager to close the door. The robot remained in front of the door to monitor any activity. Once building security arrived at 11:05 PM, the robot patrolled the floor further to look for any other human presence.
By 11:11 PM, it was confirmed that no intruders were in the building and the building facility manager left the premises. It was later determined that a delivery driver had entered the building to drop off a package and forgot to shut the door.
While machines are reliable experts for continuous data collection without mental fatigue, humans are the experts at extracting meaningful insights for critical decision-making during potentially dangerous situations. This is why Cobalt’s service allows humans to do what they do best—provide nuanced judgment—and robots to do what they do best—perform monotonous patrols tirelessly and more efficiently.
Stay tuned for Part Two of the Cobalt Chronicles to see how Cobalt addresses real incidents at customer sites, such as a fire alarm.
