Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation has a 420-pound, 5-foot-4-inch robot charging up in a Silver Spring parking garage as part of a pilot program designed to enhance security.
The robot, dubbed “Parker,” isn’t in use yet, but has prompted questions and commentary on social media. In one Reddit post, the robot was described as looking like a “giant rolling air freshener.”
William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of Knightscope, Inc., maker of the K5 model of security robots, sees them differently. He mentioned in an email to WTOP that the robots may remind people of Star Wars droids. The first version, he wrote, was rolled out May 4, 2015.
Li could not tell WTOP whether or not the robots were in use elsewhere in the D.C. region, saying the company was contractually bound from discussing them.
“I can tell you we have machines operating across the country, 24/7/365,” he said.
Li referred WTOP to a promotional video in which the narrator declares that the robots can “detect people, read license plates, make broadcast announcements and even run a thermal scan.”
During a weekly news briefing, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard stressed that the robot is not yet performing security functions, and it’s being “trained” and “programmed” as part of a test.
“Parker is not part of the police department,” Stoddard said. “It’s a program that’s being considered, piloted, tested by the Department of Transportation,” for the county’s parking garages.
Stoddard said there are a number of questions yet to be answered, such as how it navigates ramps and other areas of the garage, before investing in the hardware.
County Executive Marc Elrich said officials with the Department of Transportation “are making decisions about how it can be used, issues about data will have to be resolved,” referring to the recording and storage of data by the robot.
Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said the operations of the robots do not come under the purview of the police department, which introduced drones as tools within the department and now operates them in Bethesda and Gaithersburg along with downtown Silver Spring.
“It’s a much more mobile camera than the stationary ones that you might find in a stairwell or one single area that can’t cover the dark corner of a parking garage,” Yamada said.
Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at the American University Washington College of Law is skeptical of the value of the robots when compared to concerns over privacy.
In an email to WTOP, Ferguson said that the robots were just a form of “security theater,” which doesn’t enhance public security but makes people feel better.
Ferguson said in the past few years there have been “splashy” rollouts of new security technology, and later “rollbacks” when they don’t appear to deliver on expectations.
“The ultimate question is whether the financial costs and privacy costs are worth an investment in a 24/7 robo-cop that just records everything it sees,” he wrote.
A public announcement and demonstration of the robot is expected later this month. Stoddard said there will also be opportunities for public input, just as there were when police introduced the “Drones as First Responder” program.
Stoddard said that the program would be in concert with the council and community before the “hard launch” of the technology.
“The program details will obviously be designed specifically around the interests of Montgomery County,” Stoddard said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
