Meet the Roving Robot Parking Attendant

Kashmir Hill reports: "Uber drivers who pay a visit to the company’s inspection lot near Mission Bay in San Francisco will be met with a rather strange sight: a five-foot-tall, white, egg-shaped robot wheeling around the lot, on the look-out for trouble."

According to Hill, the robot goes by the name K5 and stands in for a human security guard. "The robot has multiple high-definition cameras for 360-degree vision, a thermal camera, a laser rangefinder, a weather sensor, a license-plate recognition camera, four microphones, and person recognition capabilities," explains Hill.

The robot has no weapons to subdue any trouble found while on patrol, but it can sound an alarm and record the events of any malfeasance. Hill adds commentary on the financial appeal of the robot parking enforcer as well as the implications for at least one kind of employment once reserved for humans.