An iRobot PackBot at a demonstration in Iraq. Image via Flickr
Soccer hooligans beware: Brazil is going to enlist the help of drones to police the 2014 World Cup.
The corporation iRobot is providing the country with 30 of its PackBot 510 robots – not unlike the drones that have been used in the Middle East – as a part of what amounts to $7.2 million in contracts. Each unit goes for about $100,000 to $200,000 and can be controlled remotely, allowing potentially dangerous areas to be surveyed without risk.
The contracts are part of a larger $900 million in funding that the Brazilian government is putting towards security for the tournament. This investment also includes the purchase of high-tech facial-recognition camera glasses that police will wear while on patrol. The glasses can reportedly capture 400 facial images per second, which are then stored in a database aiding officers in identifying suspects.
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Josh Sherman is a Toronto Standard intern. You can follow him on Twitter at @joshuaxsherman.
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