I can't believe I have to keep saying it's a bad idea to put weapons on security robots 🤦♂️
When I was investigating allegations of police misconduct in New York, the NYPD rolled out Tasers. But they only let "white shirts" (sergeants and lieutenants) have them at first, because only experienced officers had the situational awareness to know when to use them.
Even so the police routinely used Tasers on "EDPs"---the name the NYPD used at the time for the mentally ill. Later Taser (now Axon) would specifically warn *not* to use Tasers on people showing signs of mental illness.
Now some random "start ups" want to put Tasers and "gas" on robots sporting shitty artificial intelligence. Even if a person decides when to use less than lethal force, they won't even be on the scene, and so will have even less situational awareness than a (trained) officer.
Meanwhile, the case for the use of force will almost always be lower, because only property is at risk. Weapons on robots is a bad idea and legislatures should get involved. And there should be strict tort liability for this activity and few if any affirmative defenses.
