EU police warn of looming 'Robocop-style dystopia' within decade as automation set to surge

According to Europol, this future entails a world where service robots are a part of daily life, delivering parcels through windows and cleaning city streets, with humanity having mixed responses to robotic interaction.

The report reads: “A spate of ‘bot-bashing’ incidents in city centres, ranging from graffiti to targeted arson, has prompted debates about ‘robot rights’ and the psychological toll of widespread automation.

“In this uneasy climate, even minor malfunctions, such as a hospital care robot administering the wrong medication, are magnified into national scandals, fuelling populist calls to “put people first".

The report, reflecting on the Ukraine war, states that drone technology would become more widespread.

It predicts that extremist cells would use pocket AI drones to engage in attacks on critical infrastructure in cities.

Police of the future would “carry RoboFreezer guns and throw-down nano-net grenades that bloom like dandelions to snare a rogue rotorcraft”, reads the report.

Europol said that this world of increased unmanned systemic crime means police need a system to be able to question a robot, an already difficult task when interacting with self-driving cars.

Denis Niezgoda, chief commercial officer at Locus Robotics, told the Telegraph that the Robocop-esque world described in the report was unrealistic.

Mr Niezgoda said: “There are not only technical barriers but regulatory barriers to some of those very extreme scenarios becoming a reality by 2035.

“I don’t see Robocop crossing our streets and policing, I simply don’t believe that robots will erase work.”

Another concern detailed in the report is the malicious takeover of social robots.

“The empathetic capabilities of social robots might, in the future, be abused by criminal and terrorist actors for a variety of malicious activities”, said Europol.

Social robots, although in early stages, do already exist to help care for the elderly and children with autism.

As robots become increasingly incorporated with society, the report expressed concern of how people will respond to future police-robot interactions.

It reads: “Would hitting a “human” robot constitute physical abuse as others may perceive it?”

National security and market security are concerns expressed by the report, with a future where “the continent remains critically dependent on foreign firms for advanced robotic hardware and software”.

Citing ties between AI development and robotics development, Europol worries of a reliance on foreign powers for robotics components.

While the futuristic scenarios are written in a fictional style, a Europol spokesman told the Telegraph the report’s intention was to “anticipate plausible future scenarios that enable us to make more informed decisions today”.