Ne'er-do-wells of downtown Atlanta, beware: The robots are coming.
As with any urban district that’s undergoing a high-dollar revival after decades of disinvestment, the sweeping, 10-block adaptive-reuse effort that is South Downtown has grappled with theft and other issues over the past year of work, prompting the addition of Flock Security cameras across the district.
Now the entrepreneur-led development is going a step further, investing in a robotic security component that wouldn’t look out of place in dystopian, 1980s sci-fi action flick RoboCop. Which, when it comes to spooking would-be crooks, might not be a bad thing.
Security tech company Undaunted is gearing up for an official launch with pre-seed funding from South Downtown owners and developers Atlanta Ventures. It will mark the first startup funded in the South Downtown district by entrepreneur and project leader David Cummings, who envisions the historic blocks south of Five Points and east of Centennial Yards springing to life as a world-class tech hub.
Bryan Dinner, Undaunted’s founder and CEO, tells Urbanize Atlanta one of the company’s robotic guards is currently operating at 222 Mitchell—the largest building in Atlanta Ventures’ portfolio that’s being converted to apartments, after an office redo by previous owners was scrapped.
Three more robotic guards are in the process of being delivered to other South Downtown construction sites and a parking lot to patrol during closed hours, according to Dinner. (His company is also under contract to sell robots to two other developers based in metro Atlanta, Perennial Properties and B. Wolf and Sons.)
This robot includes two-way audio capabilities and a two and 1/2-hour battery life. Courtesy of Undaunted
Housing component that can hold and charge up to three robotic guards. Courtesy of Undaunted
Dinner says Undaunted’s robotic tech differentiates itself by being proactive and not reactive to security situations, using fleets of human-controlled robots to mitigate situations such as theft and trespassing. (Find a can’t-miss, 41-second explainer video to see the robots in action here.)
One means of thwarting crimes before they happen is what’s called computer vision.
“[That’s] when a camera sees a person in a no-access area after hours, such as a construction site, [and] automatically alerts the remote monitoring team to review the camera and deploy the robot,” explains Dinner.
The robots—each equipped with “advanced deterrence tools" and communication systems—are designed to allow one guard to manage security across 10 times as much area as a single, traditional guard. The result is a cheaper alternative for businesses, and a safer means of patrolling for guards, per Dinner.
Reads the company tagline: “Anything your human guards can do, our complete robot guarding system can do better.”
As for costs, one “plug-and-play” guard will set a developer back $2,000 per month. That includes the ability to cover 8 acres and around-the-clock access to a monitoring center.
Screen-grab from a demo video for an Undaunted prototype. Courtesy of Undaunted
A wall-mounted robotics system that tracks movement and triggers intrusion alerts. Courtesy of Undaunted
The four-legged, futuristic patrollers appear to have made fans of downtown movers-and-shakers.
Cummings, listed as a cofounder of Undaunted, called the robots an “innovative approach from the heart of Atlanta” that pushes “the boundaries of what's possible in security technology,” per a statement.
“Historically, the commercial heart of Atlanta, where the first Coca-Cola was served and Rich’s began, South Downtown is being revitalized as a hub for innovation and startups,” added AJ Robinson, longtime president of Central Atlanta Progress. “[Dinner] and the Undaunted team not only lead the way for future entrepreneurs who will come, but they are also laying the groundwork for making downtown the safest and most secure place to live and work."
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