Robot cop developed that can predict and prevent crime

The bullet-shaped robot that stands about 5 feet tall, looks a lot like the droid R2-D2 from the "Star Wars" films.

The K5 robot, developed by a California-based company Knightscope, has an onboard sensor array that can see, hear, touch and smell its surroundings.

The K5 can also combine that sensory data with "existing raw business, government and crowdsourced social data sets, and subsequently assigns an alert level that determines when a business, community or authorities should be notified of a concern," according to the company.

The robot is supposed to combine its observations with public data on the social and financial statistics of its surroundings, and use the information to predict if, when and where a crime is likely to occur, 'LiveScience' reported.

If the K5 does detect that an "incident" is occurring, it makes all of its sensor data publicly available via Wi-Fi, "to allow the entire community to review the information transparently and contribute additional relevant, real-time information," its makers said.

The company was founded in response to a deadly incident that gained much attention: the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, in December 2012.

"Our long-term goal is to show that, with a combination of hardware, software and community involvement, we will, together, be able to cut crime," Knightscope CEO William Santana Li said.