The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is scrapping a pilot program for a 420-pound robot on wheels that was introduced as a potential tool to help deter crime and surveil public parking garages, department spokesperson Emily DeTitta said in a Monday statement.
MCDOT is no longer moving forward with its plans for Parker, the security robot, due to a “heightened apprehension towards the government, especially among our minority population,” DeTitta said in the emailed statement.