City of Dublin
More and more law enforcement agencies have turned to robots to supplement ranks composed of real, actual humans. That includes a police department in Ohio that shelled out $70,000 for a robot cop that was kicked to the curb after having virtually no impact in the year it spent patrolling the city where it was deployed.
Police departments rely on a wide variety of technology to function, and many of them are constantly experimenting with emerging innovations that make their jobs easier while reducing the risks officers face when they’re in the line of duty.
Robots can certainly be a valuable asset when it comes to that second concern, including ones that allow experts to defuse and dispose of bombs and other explosives from a remote location as opposed to getting up close and personal with those devices.
There are also the robot dogs that have been tasked with helping handle security at military bases and major events like the World Cup, which can trace their roots back to folks at Boston Dynamics. Other companies have also designed machines capable of doing patrols, including one that spent close to a year in a city in Ohio before it was treated to an early retirement after failing to make a mark.
A police robot in Dublin, Ohio was taken out of service for being virtually useless
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the Dublin Police Department welcomed a new member last summer in the form of “DubBot,” which was the name given to the K5 Autonomous Security Robot produced by a California-based company called Knightscope.
DubBot was equipped with a 360-degree camera and an emergency call button capable of connecting people with an actual member of the police force, and it was dispatched to the Rock Cress Parking Garage to keep an eye out for crimes committed in that structure.
While you could argue its presence served as a deterrent, it did not seem to make much of an impact when you consider the outlet reports DubBot “did not lead to any arrests, criminal cases or tickets” and “never identified any incidents requiring a police response” after making its debut in July of 2025.
That doesn’t seem like a great return on the department’s investment when you consider its services cost the city $67,548, and this week, a police spokesperson announced the robot was being returned to Knightscope after what was positioned as a pilot program was brought to an end (the company was actually paid $128,080, but it is expected to issue a refund of around $60,000).
Rest easy, DubBot. Rest easy.