Partnering With Humanoid Robots, Will Police Service Increase?

JAKARTA - Dozens of advanced robots that were demonstrated during the 79th anniversary of Bhayangkara are expected to support the performance of the police.

The Indonesian National Police held a ceremony for Bhayangkara's 79th Anniversary in the National Monument area, Central Jakarta, Tuesday (1/7/2025).

Led by President Prabowo Subianto, Bhayangkara Day this year was also attended by a number of officials, including MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani chairman of the DPR Puan Maharani, and DPR Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, as well as hundreds of police officers.

The audience's attention in the 2025 Bhayangkara Anniversary is the presence of human-like robots or humanoid robots and robots similar to guard dogs in parades.

There are at least 25 robots participating in the defile consisting of robotic tanks, ropi robots, agricultural drones, and robot dog guards.

Head of Public Relations Division of the National Police Inspector General Pol. Sandi Nugroho revealed the reasons behind the presence of these robots describing the modernization of the Police.

Police in other countries, said Inspector General Sandi, have started using robots. Even some ASEAN countries have prepared to use robots in order to maximize performance.

"Thailand has introduced its humanoid robot. Dubai has also declared the use of robots to assist the police's duties. In fact, China has tested a police robot for patrols and Singapore is developing fire extinguishers for SAR activities (search and rescue)," Sandi said, citing Antara.

The robot exhibition, which was held during Bhayangkara Day 2025, was in the spotlight of netizens. Moreover, the procurement of the robot almost certainly cost a large budget. According to netizens, the price of the robot is not as good as the performance of the police.

"After all, spending that much money for things that are useless, let it be said to keep up with the times, even though there are many other problems that are more important but ignored, it's your turn to do things that are not used for those who eat a lot of costs, immediately gercep," wrote an X account user.

Meanwhile, other netizens admitted that they did not mind the procurement of these robots as long as it had a significant impact on helping humans.

Police Public Relations Division Karopenmas Brigadier General Trunojoyo Wisnu Andiko explained that currently the National Police already has several types of robots, namely Tank Robots, ROPI Robots, Drone Agriculture, Dog Robots, and Humanoid Robots.

The public is also wondering about the budget spent on the procurement of these robots.

The official Unitree website stated that the price of one unit of the Humanoid G1 robot was around US$16 thousand or equivalent to Rp258 million.

Meanwhile, the robot dog Unitree Go1 Air is priced at 2,700 US dollars or equivalent to IDR 43.5 million per unit, and the robot dog Unitree Go1 Pro is priced at 3,500 US dollars or IDR 56.5 million per unit.

On its official website, the National Police outlined a number of functions of these robots, both humanoidal and robot dog.

"Renstra Polri 2025 to 2045 regarding the use of robots to assist with Polri's tasks is already there," said Sandi Nugroho.

With a function similar to K9, robot dogs function to detect dangerous materials and objects.

However, this robot is more effective because it does not need to be fed every day, does not require a training process with handlers, and is resistant to extreme weather.

"For humanoid robots, it is almost the same, to scan, identify the National Police biometrics, introduce faces in crowded places, and to monitor lanes prone to traffic violations," said Inspector General Sandi.

"As I said, the robot has been used by the Chinese Police to assist police patrols, Dubai has also used robots to provide SIM and other extension services," he added.

The use of this robot will also be a strategic partner who will play a role in high-risk tasks.

These "robots in the future will become strategic partners of Polri personnel. They are designed to take a role in high-risk locations to reduce exposure to harm humans, while increasing the accuracy of operations," explained Inspector General Sandi.

In today's era, the use of technological robots, including humanoid robots and dog robots by the National Police, is a necessity, according to Police Observer from the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) Bambang Rukminto.

"The use of technology, including humanoid robots, is a necessity," he said.

Bambang Rukminto said, there are many things that can be utilized from technological advances in the field of security.

For example, automatic monitoring of areas, early detection of potential threats, to the use of smart systems to support quick and accurate decision-making.

"There are many things that can be used from technology in security, including as a preventive effort to maintain the safety of personnel," explained Bambang.

One form of technology utilization, as exemplified by Bambang, is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in analyzing police reports, in order to accelerate services for people who seek justice.

Bambag also hopes that the use of this technology will not stop only at exhibition events, but also be implemented in an effort to improve service quality.

"Don't let it stop just until the exhibition, but it is also implemented in improving services," he concluded.