China puts robocops on traffic duty, minus the arrest powers

It is not quite the “RoboCop” of the 1987 movie: ​no gun, no power to arrest and ​wheels rather than the Hollywood cyborg’s mechanical stride.

But at a busy intersection in the ​eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, the 1.88-m (6-foot-2-inch) robot can spot a helmetless e-bike rider, issue a polite warning and swing its mechanical arms in sync with traffic lights.

Developed by local technology firm SUPCON Information, the 98-kg (216-pound) T2 robot is part of a pilot ‌aimed at handing ⁠some of ⁠police officers’ most repetitive traffic-control duties to machines.