NetworkNewsWire
Editorial Coverage: From the coronavirus pandemic to nationwide
public unrest, 2020 has been a year that has inspired re-imagining
public safety as the country has poignantly witnessed the
challenges faced by law enforcement and security services across
all verticals. The answers to some of society’s greatest problems
today are not to be found simply in man power; rather, many of the
answers lie in technology, like that of Knightscope
Inc. (Profile), which is
designed to augment and improve existing security infrastructure.
Silicon Valley-based Knightscope, with its lineup of fully
autonomous security robots, aligns with companies such as Palantir
Technologies Inc. Class A (NYSE: PLTR), Axon
Enterprise Inc. (NASDAQ: AAXN), L3Harris
Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) and Velodyne
Lidar Inc. (NASDAQ: VLDR), which all share a passion
for solving an array of security and safety problems, as well as
protecting life and data with next-generation technology.
- With only two million law enforcement and security
professionals who are utilizing outdated technology, adequately
protecting 328 million Americans is impossible.
- Knightscope’s autonomous sentries have logged more than one
million hours protecting people and property.
- Knightscope security robots have been integral in decreasing
crime and identifying criminals.
- Knightscope has raised more than $70 million; counts four major
corporations and 16,000-plus individuals as investors.
Click here to view
the custom infographic of the Knightscope Inc. editorial.
Security a Top Priority
It is encouraging that property and violent crimes, as reported
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of
Justice Statistics (BJS), have declined over the past two decades,
but that doesn’t imply that crime has disappeared by any means. In
2019, the FBI reported about 2,110 property crimes and 379 violent
crimes per 100,000 Americans, according to Pew
Research. Leading the list of crimes were larceny/theft in the
property crime category and aggravated assault in the violent crime
category.
Where the numbers actually fall in real life is a little more
difficult to discern, considering the majority of crimes actually
go unreported every year. One of the reasons cited for failing to
report a crime is the belief that police can’t help. While
disheartening, it is not a tremendous surprise considering that for
years police forces have been reportedly
understaffed amid a growing population.
As explained by Knightscope,
Inc. CEO William Santana
Li, simple math illuminates the situation as a problem of
numbers. There are one million law enforcement professionals and
one million security personnel in the United States. Accounting for
the number of hours these individuals can work on a daily and
weekly basis, that equates to about 500,000 people at any one time
trying to protect 328 million Americans across the entire country
at any given moment.
“That’s why you have a trillion-dollar negative economic impact
of crime on the U.S. every, single year,” expounded Li in a recent
interview. He sees the defense budget structure contributing to the
problem insomuch that, unlike the military, it doesn’t provide
police and security the innovation and tools they need to do their
job effectively. Addressing this unattended need has been a driving
force in the development of Knightscope and its portfolio of robots
and operations center software.
Market Proven
Robots are increasingly part of the fight against crime, with
drones in the air and machines underwater serving as mobile
cameras. Knightscope is a first mover in taking technology to the
next level, making its robots fully autonomous with 360-degree HD
streaming video, facial recognition, license plate recognition,
thermal anomaly detection, audio broadcasts and much more.
Knightscope offers three different models of its machines for
indoor and outdoor applications, along with a state-of-the-art
Knightscope Security Operations Center (KSOC) user interface. With
more than one million hours of service already logged with paying
clients, Knightscope is distinguished as the only company in the
world operating fully autonomously without human intervention
24/7/365 across an entire country.
The Knightscope robots have proven their value to deter crime. A
single case study
from use of a Knightscope K5 robot during a six-month period by the
Huntington Park Police Department in Salt Lake Park, California,
provides evidence of this. Compared to a year earlier, the area saw
a 10% reduction in calls for service, a 46% reduction in crime
reports, a 27% increase in arrests and a 68% reduction in citations
during the time the K5 unit was present.
Win/Win: Less Crime, More Revenue
The case of Salt Lake Park is only one demonstration of
real-world use of Knightscope robots that make communities safer.
Knightscope robots are deployed throughout the country at busy
parking lots/structures, shopping malls, hospitals, casinos,
corporate campuses, federal buildings and elsewhere. Importantly,
the robots are American made from R&D to manufacturing, a
sticking point when considering the litany of applications where
protection from potential interference (read as “spying”) from
other countries is paramount.
The company can trumpet many accolades for its robots. For
instance, customers have reported that the robots have been
instrumental in
issuing warrants for sexual predators, proving a slip-and-fall
lawsuit was a sham, solving a hit-and-run crime, preventing a
fraudulent insurance claim, thwarting a fire, catching a thief and
deterring trespassing, among other things.
Knightscope offers its robots through its subscription
Machine-as-a-Service (MaaS) business model. The subscription is all
inclusive, covering everything from freight, machinery and setup to
maintenance and support. Subscriptions vary in price, ranging from
$4 to $11 per hour and are structured on an annual basis for the
robots to operate 24/7/365.
With a cost basis of approximately $60,000 to build a machine,
the company targets a return on its investment in the first year of
a subscription. Netting-out operating and other expenses, Li
estimates that each machine should generate about $250,000 in
profit over a five-year period.
Investment Flock to Deliver the Necessary Security
Tools
As mentioned, Li finds the U.S. defense system structurally
flawed. The Department of Defense oversees a $700-plus billion
annual budget designed to provide the military what is essential to
keep the country safe. This budget supports a cascading list of
contractors that supply everything from goggles to stealth bombers.
At the same time, no oversight or budget exists at the federal
level that provides for the country’s 19,000 law enforcement
agencies and 8,000 private security firms.
Li and his team are deeply passionate about and committed to
improving the security landscape. As with any entrepreneurial
endeavor, they took their fair share of body slams and doors in the
face to get things going in the early days. The company’s big break
came when it won Demo Day at the Plug and Play Tech Center in
December 2013 with the accompanying media attention.
Developing the autonomous sentry technology and being the first
to bring a next-gen tech to market has subsequently captured the
attention of thousands of additional investors. To date, management
has raised more than $70 million and counts four major corporations
and more than 16,000 people as investors in Knightscope. The
company is currently raising additional capital through a Reg A+
offering ahead of plans to
become a public entity.
The Tech Leap to Safety and Security
When man power isn’t enough — or sometimes isn’t even a viable
option — technology often saves the day. In some cases, tech is
part-and-parcel of the solution in an ever-digitized world, as with
Palantir
Technologies Inc. Class A (NYSE: PLTR), a builder of digital
infrastructure for data-driven operations and decision making.
Among a roster of security applications, Palantir software has been
used to stop terrorist attacks and combat child trafficking.
Amid its efforts to leverage technology platforms for better
public safety, Scottsdale, Arizona based Axon
Enterprise Inc. (NASDAQ: AAXN) recently won a new contract
with the Peel Regional Police, which will deploy 1,200 Axon
Body 3 cameras along with an additional 515 licenses (1,715 total)
to its digital evidence management solution, Axon Evidence. Among
its other capabilities, the new cameras are able to live stream for
appropriate personnel to watch in real-time.
A global aerospace and defense technology innovator, L3Harris
Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) delivers advanced
defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space
and cyber domains. The diverse company provides a full suite of
cybersecurity solutions and earlier this year beefed-up its
financials by selling its
biometric security detection and automation portfolio for $1
billion in cash.
Velodyne
Lidar Inc. (NASDAQ: VLDR) has engineered its Velabit,
an optimal automotive grade lidar solution for Advanced Driver
Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles. The mid-range
sensor can enable robust perception coverage for multiple
applications, such as cross-traffic detection, emergency braking
and blind spot monitoring, and recently won a Best of
What’s New award by Popular Science.
Safety comes in a lot of forms and functions nowadays. This year
has placed a particular emphasis on it, with growing crops of
technology and machinery designed to keep the world safer from
every angle. In some cases, a natural technological progression
takes place that goes somewhat unnoticed. However, occasionally,
someone takes a giant, innovative leap forward that closes the gap
between Hollywood fiction and what the world is destined to someday
look like.
For more information about Knightscope Inc., please visit
Knightscope
Inc.
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