Estate Living Magazine #liveyourbestlife - Issue 46 December 2019 | Page 45

C O M M U N I T Y
L I V I N G
But that doesn’t mean that estates are replacing their human
security teams. Far from it. People, for all their frailties, can still do
things that machines can’t. People can think on their feet, adapting
quickly to changing situations. People instinctively pick up patterns,
using context clues to see trouble and make split-second tactical
judgement calls.
Finally, security teams are the smiling, human face of your estate.
They’re the 'guys at the gate', who greet your guests and point your
visitors in the right direction. A machine may learn to recognise those
guests, but it couldn’t strike up a natural, welcoming conversation
with them.
Knightscope autonomous security robot
The immediate future of estate security, then, isn’t a stark choice
between people and machines; it’s a combination of the two. It’s
the highly trained human security guards with the finely tuned gut
instincts, supported by vast volumes of Big Data and empowered
with multiple extra sets of digital eyes. What the people miss, the
machines will pick up. And while the machines are cold, automated
and bound by pre-programmed rules, the people lend a gentle,
human touch to the whole operation.
Shenzen-China – HOA control room
servest.co.za
They just make them even better at their jobs.
S E
But that number only tells part of the story. The smartest security
companies are blending the best aspects of machines (their tireless,
endless attention spans and total recall ability) with the best aspects
of people (our warmth and adaptability) to create a complete
package, where robots don’t replace human security guards.
According to that Oxford University study, human security guards
have an 84% chance of seeing their jobs being automated (in other
words, of being replaced by robots) within the next 20 years.