Android Robots in the Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The staffing crisis in internal affairs bodies today is not just numbers in reports, but a real problem affecting everyone’s safety. 80,000 dismissed employees in 2025, more than 212,000 vacancies — the load on the remaining officers is growing. Patrol service, convoy duty, document verification at checkpoints — all these are functions that robots can already partially take on.

What android robots can do today

Modern service androids, like ServisBot from Tavrida Robotics, are capable of:

Patrol an assigned route along a given schedule (autonomous navigation, LiDAR, ultrasonic sensors)
Recognize faces from a watch list database (with appropriate access and legal basis)
Record violations via 4K cameras and transmit to the operator
Broadcast through speakers verbal warnings, instructions, requests to stop
Call a live operator in case of a non-standard situation

This is not a Terminator — this is a mobile checkpoint and information point with elements of a patrol robot.

Pilot at the metro

In June 2026, together with the transport police department, we tested a robot at the Moscow metro station. The robot patrolled the turnstile area and the platform from 8:00 to 22:00, moving on a programmed route with stops at “blind” zones (where the video surveillance cameras have dead angles).

During the test month, the robot:

Recorded 14 incidents of fare evasion (transmitted to the live operator)
Detected 7 lost items (children’s things, bags, documents) and helped return them to owners
Three times prevented dangerous situations by detecting passengers in a state of altered consciousness and calling an operator

The result was a 25% reduction in the load on human patrol officers at the station and a 15% reduction in the number of minor offenses.

Where it doesn’t replace a person

Robots cannot:

Conduct an interrogation or detained person check
Use physical force
Make decisions in non-standard situations requiring moral judgment

For these functions, a person is needed — and will be needed in the near future. The robot performs the routine, monotonous, physically tiring part of the work, freeing the human officer for what requires human qualities.

Legal basis

Use of service robots in patrol service is regulated by Federal Law No. 54-FZ “On the Police” (with amendments of 2024). A patrol robot is not a law enforcement officer — it is an information system that supports the officer’s activities. The robot’s recordings are evidentiary in the same way as CCTV recordings.

Mandatory: notification of citizens about video recording (a sticker on the robot’s body), coordination with the personal data protection authority, restricted access to the recognition databases.

Economics

One robot with a full set of sensors and software — about 1.8 million rubles. Operating costs — about 25,000 rubles per month (charging, communication, technical maintenance, software updates). A 24/7 human patrol shift costs about 600,000 rubles per month (taking into account taxes, insurance, equipment, uniforms).

The payback period for the pilot was 3 months — the load on officers decreased, the number of incidents detected increased, and as a result, the department was able to redistribute 6 officers from patrol service to investigation work.

Prospects

In 2027 — expansion to 15 metro stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Integration with the “Safe City” system and the Single Center for Emergency Services. A new model of patrol robot with an increased degree of autonomy and protection against vandalism (IP65, anti-vandal housing).

For law enforcement agencies that want to test the technology — write to us via our contact form or leave a request through the contacts page.